The movie’s attempt to redeem these women at the fade out is thoroughly unconvincing: These character flaws appear to be the habits of a lifetime. Of course, the movie contrives all sorts of reasons for the lack of civility on Pam’s part but it’s a thankless role for Devine, almost topped by Bassett’s anal-retentive sourpuss. Not to mention the one live-wire in the Watson family, Aunt Geneva (Valarie Pettiford), who can belt out songs on cue and has a shady enough past to deserve her own movie.īut this movie, directed without much flair by television director Salim Akil, is content to indulge in repetitive old-girl fights, which make Jason look pretty weak for failing to protect his fiancé and her family from his dangerously unstable mother. These include a bridesmaid ( Meagan Good) with a penchant for picking wrong men who hooks up with the wedding banquet chef ( Gary Dourdan) and a university student (Romeo Miller) with an eye for Pam’s much older best friend ( Tasha Smith). Promising subplots never fully develop as the matriarchal battle so consumes the movie. Yes, the writers do endow their rich, well-educated characters with a few flaws, but these owe more to the need for family secrets to spill out at a dramatically opportune moments. Perhaps betraying their own snobbery, Elizabeth Hunter and Arlene Gibbs’ screenplay insists that their urban working-class characters are uncouth social disasters, except for Jason, of course, who is the only member of his family with a higher education. She takes it back right away, but ceases to do so as further and graver insults spill from her mouth. The families have never met, which doesn’t prevent Claudine from fantasizing, perhaps even wishing, “They could be awful.” Nor does it prevent Pam from uttering a blatant insult the moment she meets Claudine and her husband Greg ( Brian Stokes Mitchell). But in this movie, they are almost dress extras at the main event, the fight between Sabrina’s Old Money mom Claudine (Bassett) and Jason’s postal worker mom, who might as well be called “Going Postal” Pam (Devine). In another movie, that vow and this couple might make interesting protagonists. And then there’s her unusual personal quirk - after a love life of some promiscuity, she has vowed to God that she now will “save her cookies” until after her marriage to Mr. It’s rushed because she will soon take a job in China. The comfortably bourgeois Watson family throws open the doors of its magnificent Martha’s Vineyard compound to the blue-collar, Brooklyn-based Taylors when daughter Sabrina ( Precious’ Paula Patton) rushes into an engagement to Wall Street up-and-comer Jason ( Laz Alonso). Certainly the target audience of black Americans will contribute significantly to those numbers, but it’s hard to say how well this story, which could take place within any community, will crossover to larger audiences. The TriStar release may open with decent box-office numbers thanks to a talented, award-winning cast. Other than that, it's a decent, feel-good movie that's worth a watch at least once.'Mack & Rita' Review: Diane Keaton Leads a Game Cast in a Hit-and-Miss Body-Switch Comedy The only items that really add shallow dings to the movie would be the acting and the unnecessary extra elements/storylines added. We all know you honestly can't expect much from a family-clash-at-wedding rom-com, so this one is pretty standard. Angela Bassett's and Mike Epps' acting, however, provided some relief. That especially goes for Paula Patton, although I hate to admit it. As for the acting, it was wince-worthy then, and it's wince-worthy now. I didn't necessarily appreciate the wedding planner's racially-tinged jokes - not because they were racially/culturally-charged, but just the fact that they were simply not funny. Not to mention, his character was pretty annoying. Deray's storyline could've been excluded as well. I understand that the writers probably felt a need to make a simple rom-com multifaceted, but Meagan Good's and dude's sideline storyline was unnecessary and added absolutely nothing to the story. However, I just watched this movie again and, while I still absolutely love Paula and Laz, I realize this movie has a lot of imperfections. Two very different families converge on Martha's Vineyard one weekend for a wedding. With Angela Bassett, Paula Patton, Laz Alonso, Loretta Devine. I remember loving this movie in its entirety when it first came out - mainly out of bias of my love for Paula and Laz. Jumping the Broom: Directed by Salim Akil.
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