Rating:  

Starring: Angela Bassett, Paula Patton, Laz Alonso, Loretta Devine, Meagen Good, Tasha Smith, Julie Bowen, DeRay Davis, Valarie Pettiford, Mike Epps, Pooch Hall, Romeo Miller, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Gary Dourdan, T. D. Jakes, El DeBarge.
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Director: Salim Akil
Rating: PG-13
Running Time: 112 Mins.
Release Date: May 6, 2011
Home Video Release Date: August 9, 2011
Box Office: $37.3 Million
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Stage 6 Films, Our Stories Films, Sony Pictures Entertainment, TDJ Enterprises/New Dimensions Entertainment, and TriStar Pictures.

Written by: Elizabeth Hunter and Anne Gibbs; Story be Elizabeth Hunter.

Sabrina Watson (Paula Patton) is a lawyer and wealthy daughter of Claudine and Greg Watson (Angela Bassett and Brian Stokes Mitchell, respectively), but is lost in her social life. She picks the worst of the worst to date, cannot seem to exercise a whole lot of self-control when a man shows interest, and recognizes she must change her ways. After asking God to help her out of her troubled decisions and give her the Will to remain celibate until she finally marries, she runs literally into Jason (Laz Alonso), hitting him with her car and knocking him down in a rainy crosswalk. As can only happen in the world of movies, Jason and Sabrina find love at first sight and over a whirlwind courtship of six months, Jason proposes to Sabrina, in advance of her relocation to China for work.

Never having met each other’s families, Sabrina’s parents snap into action in planning the wedding, hosting the lavish and costly event at their palatial Martha’s Vineyard estate. Claudine is clearly the alpha in charge and soon Sabrina begins to see fissures in the relationship between her parents, all coming to light as the big day approaches. Jason’s family are essentially the direct opposites of the Watson family with his mother Pam (Loretta Devine), a longtime UPS worker in Brooklyn, her best friend Shonda working side-by-side, and a dysfunctional assortment of relatives – some of which accompany Pam on the trip to the Vineyard.

Much of “Jumping The Broom” is spent comparing and contrasting the two families’ lifestyles and reactions to wedding plans in largely expected and cliched ways. Although the film is centered through the pending nuptials between Sabrina and Jason, the screenplay by Arlene Gibbs and Elizabeth Hunter often takes a page from the Tyler Perry playbook of overbaked subplots leading to tedious results and frankly too many characters given a bit too much time. The film is easy to watch but meanders around, focusing on bit players and ideas that really have little to do with the overriding arc of rich vs. wealthy and the differences and idiosyncrasies found between those two worlds.

Directed by experienced television director, Salim Akil, “Jumping The Broom” is mostly entertaining and plays well in the lighter moments. When a confounding left-field melodramatic twist arrives late in the film, everything dovetails into an embarrassing set of scenes that threaten to derail everything good that preceded it. Making matters worse, the drama is resolved so unrealistically, that whatever “Jumping The Broom” had going for itself with credibility and positivity, dissipates with its shameless grab at the heartstrings. I blame Tyler Perry for this. I know, I know…he had absolutely nothing to do with “Jumping The Broom”. However, to the detriment of all involved, his stamp and brand influence key moments of “Jumping The Broom”; so much so that I would love to get a look at that first draft of Gibbs and Hunter’s screenplay.

While severely rattled by an embarrassing final 20 minutes or so, “Jumping The Broom” mostly means well. Paula Patton and Laz Alonso make a good couple on screen and Patton shows that, with a well-written character, she can handle frontlining a major motion picture. Good performances by Angela Bassett, Loretta Devine, and charmingly goofy interplay between Tasha Smith and a young paramour (Romeo Miller, son of rapper Master P) keep things watchable. “Jumping The Broom” stumbles because ultimately, it does not truly believe in itself and gives into newly realized cliches which now embody its genre.

And yeah, fair or not, I blame Tyler Perry for this film existing as collateral damage to all the disingenuous garbage he’s thrown at audiences over the last several years. I sincerely hope we don’t have a decade of films influenced by Perry and yet, “Jumping The Broom” may signify that those films are on their way.

Should I See It?

Plays like a typical romantic wedding prep comedy, but despite its familiar trappings, the film has some nice moments when it stays light and comedic.

Paula Patton and Laz Alonso make a nice on screen couple and the ensemble is mostly well cast.

Romeo Miller and Tasha Smith nearly steal the film in their moments together.

NO

The influence of Tyler Perry films hovers over this film in moments where the drama needs to be effective. A late round twist in the proceedings is pointless and ill advised, making the film nearly dovetail off a cliff.

There is nothing really new here, so those tired of romantic comedies should look elsewhere.

Salim Akli directs the film in a simplistic manner and at times, the film looks like it could play just as effectively as a made-for-TV movie.