Jumping the Broom

Comedy, Romance
2.5 stars
Kinda dumb. Paula Patton and Laz Alonzo fall madly in love but their families hate each other. The real focus is on the two mothers: pretentious, bourgeois Angela Bassett who looks down upon those less fortunate, versus the stubborn, angry and selfish Loretta Devine who is just plain rude. Both women play caricatures of the extremes and it’s too bad because if the director had had them tone it down a bit, the film could have been so much better. I liked the theme of Devine’s blue collar character wanting to keep the tradition of jumping the broom and trying to explain the importance of tradition to the more contemporary minded Basset and her daughter, Patton. To be fair, some of the other theaters-goers seemed to really enjoy it. Not terrible, but could have been better.