SYNOPSIS: Sabrina and Jason fall in love and decide to marry before she needs to relocate for a job in China. Drama ensues as Sabrina's rich uptown Martha's Vineyard family finally get to meet Jason's downtown Brooklyn clan.
What happens when the families of the bride and groom meet for the first time on the eve of their wedding? Salim Akil, director of TV series The Game and Girlfriends, explores that question with a story from Elizabeth Hunter (Beauty Shop, The Fighting Temptations) and Arlene Gibbs. Akil jumps effortlessly into film with this first big screen, wide release effort.
Lorretta Devine is divine as Pam Taylor, the groom's outspoken, hard working and traditional mother. On the other side of the aisle is Angela Bassett as the beautiful, refined and cultured Claudine Watson, the bride's mother. Both are two sides of the same coin. Both are protective and fierce mother's who want the best for their children, even though those efforts may drive wedges into the event that their children are planning. In fact, Paula Patton as Sabrina Watson and Laz Alonso as Jason Taylor take a back seat to their leading lady mothers, which is exactly what the story is about.
The daggers in the eyes of mom Taylor and Watson toward each other, Claudine toward her sister Geneva (Valarie Pettiford), and Pam toward Sabrina throws the mama drama into high gear. But luckily, that drama is tempered by the levity of Willie Earl (Mike Epps), Jason's uncle who vows to help raise him after Pam's husband's death, cousin Malcolm (DeRay Davis) trying to chase ladies above his station and trying to "keep it real", Modern Family's Julie Bowen as Amy the event planner for the wedding trying to fit in and naively pointing out situations she is ill equipped to deal with, and Pam's best friend Shonda (Tasha Smith) trying to ward off the advances of young pup Sebastian (Romeo Miller).
Each side of the tracks think they are better than the other. The Watson family, centered around Claudine, thinks the way that the Taylor clan conduct themselves is "ghetto", although they are way too cultured to say the word. The Taylor clan, revolving around Pam, thinks that the Watson's have forgotten their roots and culture due to money. Of course, the drama of the wedding weekend on Martha's Vineyard brings out the worse, and, ultimately, the best of each family.
Jumping the Broom is both funny and touching. Any mother who has gone through a wedding for their child will find some grain of truth from this tale. Jumping the Broom may be more of a chick flick, or even more geared to a certain demographic, but I think it has an appeal for everyone.
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