Sabrina’s parents (Brian Stokes Mitchell and Angela Bassett), who are hosting the wedding weekend at their Martha’s Vineyard estate, are snooty, upper-crust caricatures.īut the smoothness of “Jumping the Broom,” which takes its name from an African-American wedding custom dating back to slavery, is a bit of a problem. The main issue is class conflict among African-American families. Akil and the screenwriters, Elizabeth Hunter and Arlene Gibbs, fall back on the tried-and-true staple of the busy nuptial weekend to stage a talk show season’s worth of conflicts and revelations, both serious and comical. But there is the matter of the wedding to get through, and Mr. Jason is an investment banker, while Sabrina, a corporate lawyer, has just been offered a big job in China, to which her future husband plans to follow her. They are both polished and well-paid professionals. Her Audi promptly knocks over a handsome fellow named Jason Taylor (Laz Alonso), and five celibate months later he pops the question outside Lincoln Center. The story begins with Sabrina Watson (a slightly manic Paula Patton) vowing, on the morning after a one-night stand, to save herself - or, as she puts it, her “cookie” - for marriage. It might have been better to embrace the chaos rather than underplay it.
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The director, Salim Akil, a television veteran, handles an awful lot of hectic business with suavity and restraint, which is a mixed blessing. Farce and melodrama are two sides of the same coin, a coin that “Jumping the Broom” tosses in the air, spins on its rim, drops on the floor and loses between the cushions of the couch.