Jumping the Broom

At last the gorgeous Laz Alonso finally nabs a lead role in a movie. He stars as Jason Taylor who is set to marry Sabrina Watson, the love of his life who is played by Paula Patton. They have it all planned out; a huge wedding set in Martha's Vineyard with all their family and friends. However the path of true love or of planning a wedding does not run smooth and the couple experience a lot of bumpy rides along the way to the alter. For a start the couple come from two completely different worlds, while Jason comes from a regular blue collar background, Sabrina comes from an elite and rich family. Sabrina's mother played by Angela Bassett is about as bourgeoisie as they come and looks down on the Watson's while Jason's mother played by Loretta Devine is a sassy, hardworking sister who will not hesitate to cuss you down in a New York minute. Needless to say that when the two families meet they clash like two titans. Pretty soon the two mothers are at each other's throat and this tension leads down to the bride and groom and it begins to look like there might not be an actual wedding. The film is directed by Salim Akil who has worked on  TV shows such as Girlfriends, Soul Food and The Game and this is his movie debut. The wonderful TD Jakes who brought us Not Easily Broken acts as producer as well as the Reverend in the film. Jumping the Broom reminds me of Our Family Wedding which starred Lance Gross and America Ferrera but this film looks a lot more fun and relateable.

Jumping the Broom is released in the US on Mother's Day 2011 and on 10th June 2011 here in the UK.

Our Family Wedding

Ugly Betty may have been given the chop but it looks like America Ferrera’s career is set to run and run. She is starring in a new film called Our Family Wedding which demonstrates how planning a wedding can be a traumatic as well as a joyful occasion. America plays Lucia Ramirez who is getting hitched to Marcus Boyd played by Lance Gross who is her college sweetheart. The two are madly in love and cannot wait to spend the rest of their lives together and moreover they are really looking forward introducing their families to each other. The problem is that their fathers, Brad Boyd played by Forest Whitaker and Miguel Ramirez played by Carlos Mencia have met before during an altercation over a parking incident which left both men very pissed off. So needless to say the introduction dinner goes down like a leaded balloon. From then on the lead up to the wedding is very stormy with both fathers bickering all the way through the plans of the wedding. The Ramirez want a Mexican style wedding while the Boyds are determined to place an African American slant on things. The arguments, mishaps and drama all plays its hand in a very charming and funny film and I cannot wait to see it. The film is directed by Rick Famuyiwa who brought us the delightful film called The Wood which was also a wedding based drama starring Taye Diggs, Omar Epps and Richard T. Jones. However his most famous work is Brown Sugar which starred Sanaa Lathan and Taye Diggs. What can I say, the man has that magical gift of shooting a film that makes it look like magic which very few directors have. Nora Ephron has it as well as Steven Spielberg and now Rick Famuyiwa does.

Our Family Wedding hits the UK on 14th May.