"Jumping the Broom" Needs to Leap a Little Farther

I went with six friends to see Jumping the Broom opening night. It was great to get together and not only support black film, but to support Arlene Gibbs, a talented sister who wrote the original screenplay. (Arlene is friends with one of the ladies who came out.) We took up almost an entire row at the theater!

Jumping the Broom is a movie about two families from two different worlds trying to become one. Sabrina, played by Paula Patton, comes to terms with the fact she has horrible judgment when it comes to men, prays to God for guidance and is led to her future husband, Jason, played by Laz Alonso. (Of course praying for a husband is made to look super easy in a T.D. Jakes film.)

The story continues to explore classism within the black community when Jason’s blue collar family meets Sabrina’s aristocratic relatives. The plot unfolds as Sabrina and Jason’s whirlwind romance begins to slowly unravel as the two fall out of the fantasy and into the reality of who each other really is, while their matriarchal families navigate their differences.

Jumping the Broom features a stellar cast including Loretta Divine, (Jason’s mother) Angela Basset, (Sabrina’s mother), Mike Epps, Tasha Smith, Meagan Good, and yes that fine Pooch Hall. (Ladies, there is plenty of eye candy in this film! There’s some for the guys too! I give Patton props for shooting this movie only three months after she had a baby. “WERK!”) It was also nice to see Gary Dourdan, (formerly of CSI) back on the screen, and watch Lil' Romeo, whose not so little anymore and tempting many grown women to “cougar up”!

Though entertaining, I did have some issues with the film. First we don’t really see Sabrina and Jason connect enough before they become engaged. They meet and then the film skips ahead five months. So we really don’t see why they feel so compelled to spend the rest of their lives together. And frankly, I did not find Alonso’s performance in the movie to be convincing. Secondly I thought it was a bit heavy handed when it came to revealing the class differences between the two families. Though Divine’s character had apparently been exposed to the “finer things” in life, the rest of her brood seemed overly impressed with Sabrina’s family’s trappings.

And though I completely respect T.D. Jakes’ message (and anyone’s choice) to save sex for marriage, I did not like the depiction/suggestion that the reason a woman’s love life is in shambles is because she engages in premarital sex, and the moment she makes a pact with God to refrain until she’s married, she will find her betrothed. (Her pact also included becoming more discerning about men, but down the line the film focused on her commitment to abstinence.) I’m tired of the double standard of women being depicted negatively for enjoying their sexuality where as men are rarely asked to answer to or defend theirs. But again, this movie was co-produced by T.D. Jakes, as well as Tracey Edmonds. And on a side note, Julie Bowen plays the wedding planner who acts as if she's NEVER seen or talked to black people by asking insipid cultural questions and being an overall nervous wreck! If she's so devoid of black cultural knowledge why was she coordinating a black wedding?

But I hope the buzz about Jumping the Broom can help prove to Hollywood that there are other versions of black life that don’t begin with “Tyler Perry presents”. No disrespect to Perry, but Hollywood needs to afford other storytellers the opportunity to illustrate the broad spectrum of our collective experience.

While I am not raving about Jumping the Broom, there are enjoyable moments, and I do think it’s worth seeing. It is definitely a step in the right direction back toward the “Love Jones” era of modern black films that provided a more diverse reflection of black life.

Did you see Jumping the Broom? If so what did you think?