Title: Jumping the Broom
Director: Salim Akil
Producer: T.D. Jakes and Curtis Wallace
Running Time: 1hr. 47 mins
Year: 2011.
‘Jumping the broom’ is a movie that centers on commitment, loyalty, family conflict, paternity and the tradition of stepping over a broom at some African- American weddings. The lead characters in this movie were Angela Bassett (Claudine Watson), Paula Patton (Sabrina), Laz Alonso (Jason), and Loretta Devina (Pam Taylor).
The story centers on Sabrina a young lawyer from a wealthy background who prayed and made a promise to God to keep herself before marriage if God sends her a responsible man as her husband. Not long after this, God answered her prayers and she ran into Jason, a Wall Street Analyst from Brooklyn and they started dating.
After six months of dating during which the couple made no effort to meet members of their respective families, Jason proposes marriage to Sabrina and she accepted. However, there was a hitch in their marriage plans as members of their respective families found it difficult to get along with each other due to their different cultural beliefs. The conflict was finally resolved when everybody learnt to compromise and work together in unity.
The main theme of this movie focuses on the importance of family and certain old family traditions as regards marriage in this modern age where the younger generation has lost touch with their cultural tradition and beliefs. ‘Jumping the Broom’ is a dramatic movie that passes message to both parents and their children on rules concerning marriage especially within the black community. The movie had an interesting beginning that will keep you glued to it until the end. The use of language was good and all the cast spoke fluently.
The cast were quite impressive and depicted their characters well. Mrs. Taylor and Mrs. Watson’s pride, anger, selfish ambition were all conveyed in the movie. From the camera shots and angles, to the lighting and the actors and actresses, this is a well enacted movie. Details such as make-up were appropriate and the sound quality was top notch. One of the best scenes of the movie is the wedding scene where all the cast both young and old danced. The scene looked real and interesting, it was obvious they made good use of music, sound and picture quality.
Several actors featured in the movie including, Angela Bassett (Claudine Watson), Paula Patton (Sabrina), Laz Alonso (Jason), and Loretta Devina (Pam Taylor), Tasha Smith (Shonda) and Willie Earl (Mike Epps). Jumping the broom is fast paced with smooth scene transitions for anyone who loves to watch black American movies.
One very important quality of a good movie is if and how the conflict was resolved; and ‘’Jumping the Broom” achieved this by resolving the conflict in it properly such that both families settled their differences and the bride and groom got married, thereby leading to a happy ending. The overall performance of movie shows that the Producer maximized his budget on the movie and utilized it well. If I should grade this movie over 100, I will grade it 70 percent.
REVIEWER: Olubukunola Femi – Dagunro