Is T.D. Jakes' "Jumping the Broom" Another Dark-Skinned Groom, Light-Skinned Bride With Feuding Families Romantic Comedy?

T.D. Jakes' "Jumping the Broom" perpetuates yearly movie theme of dark-skinned vs. light-skinned relationships sprinkled with family feuds of cultured rich against loud-mouth working class blacks.

Is T.D. Jakes' new romantic comedy "Jumping the Broom" a Tyler-Perry lite flick? The movie, which centers around the collision of the lives of one privileged and wealthy family and a working class family, who get together one weekend on Martha's Vineyard for a wedding. Wall Street up-and-comer Jason Taylor, played by Laz Alonso, is caught up in a whirl-wind romance with a rich light skin sister, Sabrina Watson, played by Paula Patton, from the Oscar Award-winning denigrating and disgusting "Precious." He proposes to her at the beginning of the film. The drama comes when the worlds of their families collide. Watson's mother is played by Angela Bassett, while Taylor's mother is played by Loretta Devine. Why am I not surprised that the light-skinned sister is the rich one and the dark-skinned brother is from a family of loud-mouths and uncultured hangers-on?

The reviews from the critics are largely mixed and the movie is strikingly similar to last year's "Our Family Wedding," that starred Lance Gross and America Ferrera (another dark-skin/light-skin romantic comedy). Do I tip my hat to T. D. Jakes and Tracey Edmonds for this film? Nah. Though there may be funny scenes in the movie, it perpetuates the same yearly theme -- dark-skin vs. light-skin with family feuds as the overriding theme, but the weddings always go on as planned because the families miraculously come to a point of unity. The real journey to get to that place is often weak, at best. I guess the saving grace for "Jumping the Broom" is that it has two powerhouse actresses -- Angela Bassett and Loretta Devine, whose first meeting since "Waiting to Exhale" is so predictable -- vindictive and narrow-minded Devine juxtaposed against a classy Bassett.

Devine & Bassett's characters were meant to hate each other. In one almost interesting dinner scene, their adversarial relationship finds something worth fighting over. Mrs. Watson announces that her family once owned slaves. Ms. Taylor is appalled. The movie, meanwhile, is irresponsible, since no one offers an explanation. The Watsons appear to hail from the Caribbean, where affluent blacks did once own slaves. That, also, is why they speak so much French, not because, in Ms. Taylor’s eyes, they’re uppity — well, not only because they are. Source

Seems that most of the reviews I have read seem to take offense to the "limited ideas of blackness" and it comes across as a distraction, rather than tackling real issues of "blackness" that shouldn't be centered on SCANDAL every time. Too predictable.

Everyone here is trapped in the movie’s limited ideas of blackness. Rather than untangle the subject, the filmmakers concoct an unreasonable amount of melodrama as a distraction: Look, scandal! One of the bridesmaids is sleeping with the cook. Sabrina’s mother thinks her father (Brian Stokes Mitchell) is having an affair. Look out for that last-minute family bombshell for which no one has very many follow-up questions. And for some reason the humidly voiced reverend, T.D. Jakes, prowls around this movie, the cost, presumably, for his helping produce it. That might explain why Akil, Gibbs, and Hunter play it so safe. Their eyes were watching God. So: “Black’’? Yes. “Beautiful’’? Indeed. “Bold’’? Not at all. Source

There's also the other issue of Bishop T.D. Jakes producing a "worldly" movie with some sexual content. Either he's smart enough to want to capitalize on the trend of black movie producers or he just wants to make money. It seems that he wants to create something too smooth and commercial, ignoring the tough issues that face the black community where marriage is concerned. As statistics state, there are more households being headed by black women in the U.S. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, in 2001, 43.3 percent of black men and 41.9 percent of black women in America had never been married, in contrast to 27.4 percent and 20.7 percent respectively for whites, the Washington Post said.

One observation from the trailer is that white wedding planner being down with the "black lingo." That's was out of place and fell flat.  Well, for whatever it's worth, I'm curious to see if this movie, directed by Salim Akil, has lived up to the hype. Besides, I am experiencing Mabel "Madea" Simmons burn-out. Enough of Tyler Perry's cross-dressing antics and the, oh so, dysfunctional gun-toting bully he loves to play. I will concede one point, Perry draws on real-life experiences within the black community, however stereotypical. Still, Angela Bassett and Loretta Devine must have seen some oomph in their movie roles to have signed. On that basis, I think I'll pay the matinee rate to see this movie.

Watch the trailer: