If love is like a kick to the head, in Tyler Perry’s “Diary of a Mad Black Woman” it’s more like whacking your newly paralyzed husband of 18 years behind his head.

In the beginning, the gorgeous Helen (Kimberly Elise) has the “perfect” life: a successful and wealthy husband Charles (NIU alumnus Steve Harris) and a beautiful mansion. That is, until lawyer Charles physically drags her out of the mansion and announces his girlfriend and their two kids are moving in (all with a soap-opera score). Helen vows Charles will reap what he sows.

But for any woman who has ever been hurt, there’s always a crazy kin or friend beside her, and if she’s lucky, she won’t be afraid of the “Po Po” (police). Cue Madea (Perry), Helen’s offbeat granny, who reinterprets Christian references like “Peace be still” into “Peace be in my steel” (her gun). Madea takes Helen in, and Helen grieves but slowly heals. Her emotional repair begins thanks to Christian values; Madea’s attitude; and Orlando (Shemar Moore), a steel worker by day and love interest by night.

As Helen settles into her joyful existence, life happens. In a very “The Color Purple”-like turn, Charles is shot and paralyzed thanks to old debts representing a scum client. Helen does her Christian duty and cares for the cantankerous Charles while giving him his come-uppance tenfold: She beats him up. Lord have mercy, because with all of “Diary’s” Christian preaching, such violence hardly makes sense.

When Charles and Helen start to forgive each other, Helen must choose between her new life with Orlando and her old life with Charles.

At times “Diary” is right on with bulls-eye revelations into an injured woman’s soul, and at other times it just as aptly misses them with ludicrous premises. Helen’s “Dynasty”-esque life and inner monologues could almost explain her tolerance for a broken marriage and the husband she “barely knows.”

But her 360-degree turn into “a mad black woman” has little emotional growth to show for except Helen claiming she’s “found herself” five minutes after wishing to be as happy as her family. Agony does not turn into ecstasy so quickly without confusing the audience.

The problem may be Perry, who throws too many issues into one movie and similarly takes too many roles: He plays three characters in the movie, including the kooky Madea. While his drag get-up passes for the crazy grandma, much of the time it’s distracting, as Madea’s tendency to be unladylike reminds us that “dude looks like a lady.” Perry as Joe, Madea’s passably amusing brother, is fairly forgettable. And as Brian, he exists to service a muddled side plot involving his estranged junky wife.

“Diary” is a lot like love: Sometimes you’ll get it, and sometimes you won’t.