Tyler Perry’s new comedy, Joe’s College Road Trip, has become Netflix’s biggest hit in its first week. Perry plays Joe Simmons, a grumpy grandfather who drives across the country with his grandson to look at colleges.
The comedy film Joe’s College Road Trip, released on February 13th, quickly became the most popular movie on Netflix. Between February 9th and 15th, it was viewed 12.5 million times and watched for a total of 23.1 million hours in its first two days. This made it the biggest comedy film debut on Netflix this year – a notable accomplishment, especially considering the movie has received mixed reviews from critics.
Critics Can’t Decide on Whether to Love or Hate ‘Joe’s College Road Trip’
Featuring Jermaine Harris, Amber Reign, Millie Jackson, and Bethany Anne Lind, Joe’s College Road Trip is receiving similar reviews to many of Perry’s other films on Rotten Tomatoes. With only eight critic reviews available, opinions are evenly divided. Owen Glieberman of Variety praised the film’s “extraordinary spontaneity,” while Brian Orndorf from Blu-ray.com offered a different perspective.
Okay, look, I love a good comedy, but Perry’s done it again – another movie that feels really low-effort. It tries to be funny, but also throws in some stuff about Black history that doesn’t feel genuine. Honestly, the whole thing – the writing, the directing – just feels rushed and sloppy. It’s just not his best work, and it’s frustrating because he can do better.
Film critic Pramit Chatterjee praised Joe’s College Road Trip as the best film in the Madea series since Madea’s Witness Protection. However, John Stark of Mac the Movie Guy observed that while Tyler Perry’s film finally has a clear message, it doesn’t quite know how to deliver it effectively.
Tyler Perry films consistently receive very different reactions. Critics often dislike them, but audiences tend to love them. Recent examples like Divorce in Black (critics gave it a 0% rating, while fans gave it 73%) and A Madea Homecoming (36% on the Tomatometer, 74% on the Popcornmeter) show this pattern.
What’s Next for Tyler Perry?
Tyler Perry isn’t letting negative reviews slow him down. The busy filmmaker – who writes, directs, produces, and acts – has four new projects planned for this year, including Why Did I Get Married Again? and The Gospel of Christmas, both coming to Netflix soon.
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Following that, Perry will launch two new projects: the Netflix original film ‘Tis So Sweet’ and the horror movie Help. Help is a collaboration between Blumhouse and Perry’s production company, Peachtree & Vine, and features Chloe Bailey, Coco Jones, Lynn Whitfield, Anna Diop, and Romy Woods in its cast. While an exact release date hasn’t been announced, sources like Wikipedia currently estimate a 2026 release.
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2026-02-19 16:19