Review of film: “JUMPING THE BROOM”

2011, 02-14:

Review of film:  “JUMPING THE BROOM”

            The “Sweep” may not always be “CLEAN”, but it’s WORTH ”Hopping” onto!...

 This advance preview was seen well in advance of the scheduled May 6^th Mother’s Day opening, & is a production of reverend T.D. JAKES (who plays Reverend James in the film)…  The tagline of the movie is, “Sometimes, the only way to get past family drama is to JUMP right over it”…

…  Sabrina Watson (PAULA PATTON) is a beautiful and smart young lady from an “Uptown” (i.e., an “UPSCALE”, rich) family in Massachusetts.  She has a history of make terrible choices when it comes to picking men…  When she finds herself in another such encounter, she promises “God” that she’ll “save” herself for marriage if He’ll get her “out” of her current situation…

…  As she’s driving home in New York, she’s distracted & chances to HIT a good looking man named Jason Taylor (LAZ ALONSO)...

...  She’s “overwrought” from the experience, he works to calm her down, & they start to date.  As fate (& plot) would have it, they fall in love & decide to MARRY…

…  Paula’s mother Charisse (ANGELA BASSETT) is a “Type A” person who needs to “control” everything.  She’s accustomed to the affluent life, & wants to make a big deal out of the wedding, regularly telling the Wedding Planner  (JULIE BOWEN) how things “must” be done…

…  Jason’s mother (LORETTA DEVINE, the “crazy” teacher in TV’s “BOSTON PUBLIC”, & “Adele” in “GREY’S ANATOMY”) is described as a “Downtown” / “Down Home” woman --  which is a nice way of saying she comes from a LOWER-class background economically in New York City…

…  Of more importance, Loretta is very blunt & almost proudly politically “INCORRECT” (namely, rude) in the way she treats people.  She seemingly partly “learned” that from working as a POSTAL clerk…

…  Anyway, Loretta is very “protective” of Laz, & COMPLAINS to her best friend , Shonda (TASHA SMITH) about how displeased she is at the way the wedding has been “RUSHED” when she hadn’t even met her son’s fiancée, much less any of her family…

…  They go together to the fancy “digs” of Paula’s family home on a Martha’s Vineyard type area, traveling along with 2 friends of Laz’s--  Malcolm (DeRAY DAVIS) & MIKE EPPS…  Loretta is most unhappy that Laz himself does not MEET them at the boat dock & that a chauffer takes them out to Angela’s fancy estate…

…  Little by little, we see there are considerable TENSIONS in the Watson household:  there are problems between Angela & her white husband (BRIAN STOKES MITCHELL), + strains with her own sister, Paula’s Aunt Geneva (VALARIE PETTIFORD) who arrives for the wedding…

…  Once Loretta disembarks at the estate, she soon acts very RUDELY towards Angela & Paula, complaining about how she’d never even met  Paula prior to the suddenly-planned wedding…  Angela responds very poorly to Loretta’s attitude…

…  Upstairs in their room, Loretta shows Tasha how she’d brought the family BROOM she & her deceased husband had “Jumped” over to signify that they were married--  very much liking that tradition which had been handed down from slave days… 

…  At a pre-wedding Reception dinner, Angela responds BADLY to Loretta’s idea that the broom be used for PAULA’S wedding , & that very much displeases Loretta...  

...  Loretta gets even more “ticked” when she learns Paula had been in NEW YORK with her son Laz, & they purposely had never gotten TOGETHER with her there…

…  As if that weren’t “enough”, Loretta chances to learn an upsetting Watson family SECRET, which she declares makes it so that she wants to get the wedding CALLED-OFF…

…  There are various sub-plots, with Tasha getting “hit-on” by Paula’s young cousin Sebastian (LIL’ ROMEO), disputes between Laz’s friends, and an “uncontrolled” Chef McKenna (GARY DOURDAN) who “takes” to one of the bridesmaids…

…  Will Loretta make active efforts to try to STOP the wedding?...  Will the Watson family SECRET cause problems to people at the wedding functions?...   Will things be resolved between Laz’s friends?...  What will happen in the OVERALL family relationships of the Watsons & the Taylors (& with each other)?...

…  The general “idea” of this movie has (of course) been done before.  But, they’ve gathered together a very good CAST, some unusually good WRITING for a romantic comedy, mixed in some effective DRAMA & “charm”, & thus I’m rating this as 8 out of 10 stars…

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