Jumping the Broom

Director Salim Akil makes an impressive feature film debut with this pleasant little throwback of a movie. Broom has the charm of an old-school Hollywood rom-com. Heck, the central character, played by the alluring Paula Patton, is named Sabrina. You have to be a pretty solid director with a gift for nuance to pull off a scene where El DeBarge breaks out singing in the middle of Manhattan, as he does in the film’s opening minutes. Akil has the ability to make something potentially maudlin both cute and entertaining. The story centers on Sabrina’s impending marriage to Jason (Laz Alonso) a man she meets after hitting him with her car. Their two families come together at the very upscale home of Sabrina’s parents (played by ever reliable Angela Bassett and Brian Stokes Mitchell). Jason’s mom (Loretta Devine) is a postal worker with a bad attitude, angry that she isn’t meeting her daughter-in-law until the wedding weekend. The two different families come together, and friction is immediately apparent. It’s forgettable, but it’s cute.