Jumping the Broom

At last the gorgeous Laz Alonso finally nabs a lead role in a movie. He stars as Jason Taylor who is set to marry Sabrina Watson, the love of his life who is played by Paula Patton. They have it all planned out; a huge wedding set in Martha's Vineyard with all their family and friends. However the path of true love or of planning a wedding does not run smooth and the couple experience a lot of bumpy rides along the way to the alter. For a start the couple come from two completely different worlds, while Jason comes from a regular blue collar background, Sabrina comes from an elite and rich family. Sabrina's mother played by Angela Bassett is about as bourgeoisie as they come and looks down on the Watson's while Jason's mother played by Loretta Devine is a sassy, hardworking sister who will not hesitate to cuss you down in a New York minute. Needless to say that when the two families meet they clash like two titans. Pretty soon the two mothers are at each other's throat and this tension leads down to the bride and groom and it begins to look like there might not be an actual wedding. The film is directed by Salim Akil who has worked on  TV shows such as Girlfriends, Soul Food and The Game and this is his movie debut. The wonderful TD Jakes who brought us Not Easily Broken acts as producer as well as the Reverend in the film. Jumping the Broom reminds me of Our Family Wedding which starred Lance Gross and America Ferrera but this film looks a lot more fun and relateable.

Jumping the Broom is released in the US on Mother's Day 2011 and on 10th June 2011 here in the UK.

Not Easily Broken

After Barack Obama won his historic victory I wrote a post about Black Love and how it has been portrayed in films and TV. Films are particulalry interesting to me, you see a lot of them focus on the romance and ups and downs of the relationships ending with a lovely wedding. So when I came across Not Easily Broken which is the story about a married couple who struggle to keep their marriage on track through rugged waters I had to see it. Part of the reason is that Morris Chestnut, Taraji P Henson and Eddie Cibrian were in it. Morris and Taraji play Dave and Clarice Johnson who have been married for a few years. Haven given up his dream to be a pro baseball player, Dave now works as a salesman and teaches a group of young boys baseball. Clarice meanwhile is a hot shot real estate agent who is the biggest assest to her company. However, the Johnson's marriage is not without a few issues; Dave is keen to start a family but Clarice is nowhere near ready to jack in her career to start making babies. Also Clarice is hell bent on keeping up with the Jones by having the perfect house, car, friends and eating in fancy restaurants. The couple find themselves drifting apart and during a furious row while driving, David crashes the car and Clarice is seriously injured. She temporarily loses the use of her legs but also her sense of self and belief. Her mother moves into the home to look after her and with this as well as intensive therapy, David finds himself shut out of Clarice's life. Clarice's interferring mother does not help matters either and David finds himself seeking solace elsewhere.

I absolutely loved this film because it really showed an ordinary couple (who just hjappened to be Black) working their way through their problems. There was no domestic violence, no infidelity and no emotional abuse. Clarice is a strong and feisty lady who set high standards for herself and her hubby and David was equally strong but also a fantastic nurtuer and leader. The film covers a wide range of issues such as death, friendship, broken dreams and how holding on baggage from the past can have a detrimental effect on your future. It was also great to see Morris Chesnut back in a great role and Taraji P Henson was her usual amazing self. The film is directed by the great Bill Duke who is making quite a mark for himself with movies such as A Rage in Harlem, Deep Cover and Hoodlum. Duke makes good work of turning T.D. Jakes book into a fantastic film.


Not Easily Broken is available to buy from amazon.