There’s a naive charm to “Tyler Perry’s Boo 2! A Madea Halloween,” especially when Tyler Perry’s on screen as Madea.

Perry, who wrote, directed, produced and stars in “Boo 2,” not only puts on the dress, hair and makeup to play Mabel “Madea” Simmons, he also plays Brian Simmons, the put-upon husband, and Uncle Joe Simmons.

In the paper-napkin thin plot of “Boo 2,” the 10th Madea movie, Brian (Tyler Perry) holds an 18th birthday party for his daughter, Tiffany (Diamond White), at his house. Tiffany convinces Brian’s ex-wife, Debrah (Taja V. Simpson), to allow her and her friends, Gabriella (Inanna Sarkis) and Leah (Lexy Panterra), to go to a party held by fraternity brothers at a secluded park at a lake.

Madea (Tyler Perry), Betty Ann “Aunt Bam” Murphy (Cassi Davis), Hattie Mae Love (Patrice Lovely), and Joe (Tyler Perry) go to the park to rescue the girls and their friends from a ghostly girl, the grim reaper and two chainsaw-wielding thugs.

“Boo 2” has a few jump scares, some funny scenes and many sequences that simply fall flat.

Madea seems to be on screen only as much as the other two characters he plays, Brian Simmons, which he plays straight as an upright but endearing dad who wants to do the right thing by his daughter (Diamond White gives the film’s one standout performance) and Joe Simmons, the irascible uncle who rattles off the majority of the movie’s politically incorrect jokes (topics include pimps, prostitutes and drug use). When Madea is on screen, “Boo 2” is fun.

Otherwise, the supporting cast of characters is adrift in a morass of bad one-liners, clichéd slow-burn looks, and mugging mania that would rival the WWE.

“Boo 2” should amuse teens and preteens.

“Boo 2” is the 10th Tyler Perry movie to open at No. 1. It shouldn’t harm the Madea and Tyler Perry brand, nor Perry’s remarkable and impressive career, with some 17 movies since 2005 that he has written, directed, produced and starred in.

“Tyler Perry’s Boo 2! A Madea Halloween,”

MPAA Rated PG-13 (Parents Strongly Cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13. Parents are urged to be cautious. Some material may be inappropriate for pre-teenagers.) for sexual references, drug content, language and some horror images; Genre: Comedy, Horror; Run time: 1 hr., 41 min.; Distributed by Lionsgate.

Credit Readers Anonymous:

“Tyler Perry’s Boo 2! A Madea Halloween” includes extended outtakes and bloopers before the end credits rolling. While interesting, these aren’t much funnier than the movie.

Box Office,

Oct. 27: The monster mash-up continued for the Oct. 27 Halloween weekend with four horror films in the Top 10 as “Jigsaw” assembled a No. 1 opening with a puzzlingly low $16.3 million, one week, scaring “Tyler Perry’s Boo 2! A Madea Halloween” down one spot to No. 2 with $10 million, $35.5 million, two weeks. 3. “Geostorm” swirled down one slot, $5.6 million, $23.5 million, two weeks. 4. “Happy Death Day” dropped one space, $5 million, $48.3 million, three weeks. 5. “Blade Runner” slid one place, $3.9 million, $81.3 million, four weeks. 6. “Thank You for Your Service,” $3.7 million, opening. 7. “Only the Brave” dropped down two slots, $3.4 million, $11.9 million, two weeks. 8. “The Foreigner” moved down two spots, $3.2 million, $28.8 million, three weeks. 9. “Suburbicon,” $2.8 million, opening. 10. “It” floated down three places, $2.4 million, $323.7 million, eight weeks.

Unreel,

Nov. 3:

“Thor: Ragnarok,”

PG-13: Taika Waititi directs Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Cate Blanchett, and Mark Ruffalo in the action comedy. Thor (Chris Hemsworth) faces former ally the Hulk in a gladiator duel. He must prevent Hela from destroying the Asgardian civilization.

“A Bad Moms Christmas,”

R: Jon Lucas and Scott Moore direct Kristen Bell, Mila Kunis, Justin Hartley, and Jay Hernandez in the comedy. Three mothers rebel against the expectations of the Christmas season.

One Popcorn Box out of Five Popcorn Boxes