Bishop T.D. Jakes, head of a megachurch in Dallas, has a wife, five kids, 30,000 flock members and a long line of
books to his name, among them "Mama Made the Difference: Life Lessons My Mother Taught Me."
He wrote the novel "Not Easily Broken" with both eyes on the silver screen. It is a faith-based love story, secondarily
about God's role in the care and feeding of an L.A. couple's turbulent marriage.
Primarily the film, directed by actor-friendly Bill Duke, is about the power of good casting.
Thanks to Morris Chestnut, whose warm, easy screen presence was an asset way back in "Boyz N the Hood," and to Taraji P. Henson,
adoptive mother of the title character in "The
Curious Case of Benjamin Button," this by-the-book scenario ends up being a pretty entertaining read.
Screenwriter Brian Bird refers to "Not Easily Broken" as "sort of a male version of the film 'Waiting to Exhale.'"
Our narrator, Dave, marries Clarice when they're young and full of dreams. Dave's plans are dashed in the introductory
montage: An on-field college injury derails his future in pro baseball. Years later Dave's a struggling contractor, while
real estate agent Clarice rakes in the dough -- enough, nearly, to support a heavy mortgage, keep Clarice in Escalade
territory or higher and generally maintain the consuming trappings of success.
Several big things and a lot of little things pile up in "Not Easily Broken."
These include a near-fatal car accident; Dave's friendship, teetering on the edge of trouble, with his wife's physical
therapist (Maeve Quinlan); and the gruesome play-by-play of Dave and Clarice's marriage provided by Clarice's mother
(Jenifer Lewis), who moves in with them after the accident. Author Jakes and adapter Bird side with the central male
characters, all the way. Unfortunately, they turn Clarice and her mother into cardboard shrews.
Remarkably the movie, like the couple at its center, isn't easily broken.
By the end I was rooting for Dave to get right with Clarice, even though the physical therapist seemed a lot calmer.
It's more a matter of rooting for performers who know how to flesh out two-dimensional characters.
Under Duke's direction,
which is visually pedestrian but well-attuned to his actors' needs, Chestnut keeps Dave on an effective low simmer, while
Henson's higher-key histrionics give way to honest revelations, in the nick of time. Even when the plot heads toward
heavy melodrama, Duke keeps it semi-quasi-real. And for comic relief there's Kevin Hart (as one of Dave's pals),
scoring laughs simply by pretending to hide the fact that he's constantly on the verge of a crying jag.
The film is likable. Its many messages, many of them Lord-oriented, are all equally heartfelt.
Not Easily Broken Movie Trailer
"Not Easily Broken" MPAA rating: PG-13 (for sexual references and thematic elements).
Running time: 1:39.
Starring: Morris Chestnut (Dave); Taraji P. Henson (Clarice); Maeve Quinlan (Julie); Kevin Hart (Tree); Wood Harris (Darnell); Jenifer Lewis (Mary).
Directed by Bill Duke; written by Brian Bird, based on the book by Bishop T.D. Jakes; photographed by Geary McLeod; edited by Josh Rifkin; music by Kurt Farquhar; production designed by Cecil Gentry; produced by Duke, Bishop Jakes and Curtis Wallace. A TriStar Pictures release.
This charmless film concerns two lifelong friends, played by Kate Hudson and Anne Hathaway, whose competing weddings, mistakenly scheduled for the same day at Manhattan's Plaza Hotel, turn bride-to-be against bride-to-be. Half the comedies made in Hollywood are based on the premise of boy-men acting like idiots. Switching the gender and toning down the vulgarity to a PG level offers only change, not improvement. Hathaway in particular deserves better material.
Based on a book by Bishop T.D. Jakes, this film is a faith-based love story, secondarily about God's role in the care and feeding of an L.A. couple's turbulent marriage. Thanks to Morris Chestnut, whose warm, easy screen presence was an asset way back in "Boyz N the Hood," and to Taraji P. Henson, a by-the-book scenario (described by screenwriter Brian Bird as "sort of a male version of the film 'Waiting to Exhale'") ends up being pretty entertaining.
The misadventures of a lovable Labrador retriever frame this sweet, surprisingly moving chronicle of a young couples
struggle to simultaneously build a family, advance their careers and maintain their sanity. Owen Wilson plays journalist
John Grogan, whose popular 2005 memoir spawned this film, and Jennifer Aniston plays Jenny, his wife. Dog lovers will
laugh delightedly for the first hour and spend the second hour weeping openly.
This is a tall tale of a man aging in reverse while bobbing serenely on lifes unpredictable seas. The colorful supporting
characters spill their guts to the wonder of nature played by Brad Pitt, as he begins his life a very old man, ages into
late-middle age, ripens into well, Brad Pitt, then embarks on the big fade into childhood, infancy and check-out time.
This film spends 105 minutes grappling at the edge of camp, cheap laughs and cliches. Yet the way it is handled by
director Darren Aronofsky and especially by Mickey Rourke, who really should get an Oscar for his portrayal of Randy The Ram
Robinson, a steroid-addled sweetie in tights, it stays honest and keeps on fighting.
Valkyrie, a plot to assassinate Hitler, stars Tom Cruise as Col. Claus von Stauffenberg, a cultured aesthete who turned
against his supreme commander. Cruise is not bad, but he cannot suggest the aristocratic hauteur or the steely authority
needed in this role. Going into this film, you know how things are going to come out. Still, with actors as good as Tom
Wilkinson, Bill Nighy, Thomas Kretschmann and Kenneth Branagh in key supporting roles, this ensemble piece avoids the
usual action-movie triumphalism.
Adam Sandler plays Skeeter, a hotel handyman under the thumb of the owner (Richard Griffiths) and manager (Guy Pearce). Skeeter and his sister (Courteney Cox) grew up in a motel bungalow court, and Skeeter longs for a crack at running the hotel that's built on the site. While Sis is away, Skeeter must baby-sit for his niece and nephew, and the adventure stories he spins become fantasy vignettes that somehow manage to improve his disappointing life. It's an adequate idea, dutifully delivered.
Kate Winslet stars in the film version of the Bernhard Schlink novel about a 15-year-old West German boy who, in 1958,
embarks on an affair with a 36-year-old trolley conductor with more on her mind, and in her past, than she admits.
The novel was hugely popular as well as controversial worldwide
Jim Carrey plays a loan officer who cannot get out of his self-pitying rut three years after a breakup. Then he encounters a self-help guru (Terence Stamp, in his first genuinely funny screen appearance) who challenges
his followers to say yes to every single thing that comes their way.
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Clint Eastwood performance as a reclusive Korean War veteran toughing it out in a sketchy Detroit-area neighborhood may well lead to his first Academy Award for acting. After the vets young neighbor (Bee Vang) breaks into his garage to steal the car for which this film is named, our hero sets out to teach the boy how to stand up to his venal gangsta cousins.
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Will Smith plays an IRS agent who has committed a terrible deed and appears to be investigating the cases of a carefully selected group of people, including a seriously ill heart patient (Rosario Dawson) and a blind pianist (Woody Harrelson).
This earnest, emotional film is a mixed but pretty interesting bag, though its G rating may mislead some parents into taking 4 or 5 year-olds to it, which could lead to some freakouts. Much of the movie, based on a Newbery Medal-winning book, has a grim narrative.
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Not Easily Broken starring Morris Chestnut & Taraji P. Henson Movie Review | Michael Phillips Reviews Not Easily Broken Not Easily Broken Movie Review & Movie Trailer
Not Easily Broken stars Morris Chestnut & Taraji P. Henson.
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