Ponto de Decisão

It Has Meaning This Movie.

T.D. Jakes previous novel Women Thou Art Loosed was adapted into an impressive film, five years and his follow up film Not Easily Broken is just as good. Directed by the underrated Bill Duke whose previous work includes Hoodlum and Deep Cover, Not Easily Broken tells the story of a couple (Morris Chestnut & Taraji P. Henson) whose marriage is crisis.After a car accident, injurers Henson's character things only get worse and their marriage but more importantly their faith is tested. I watched the film with my wife. It was a treat to discuss the film with her on the way out of the theater to our car. And during the ride home we came to understand a little more about each other. The acting considering the religious material is first rate, Morris Chestnut displays the same leading man charm he always does and fresh off her Oscar Worthy turn in Benjamin Button, Henson does wonders. Jenifer Lewis steals every scenes he's in as the mother-in-law, and Kevin Hart provides tons of comic relief as a life long friend to Chestnut' s character. Not Easily Brokenis the kind of film that most critics will tear apart. It could be there lack of familiarity for most critics when it comes to the gospel genre.Take for example the similar marriage in crisis themed film Revolutionary Road which is currently in release and stars Kate Winslet& Leonardo Dicarpo. Winslet just won a Golden Globe for her role in Road, while critics roasted Henson's performance in Not Easily Broken.While Winslet's character differs slightly from Henson's in Not Easily Broken both give performances that any women single or married can relate to. While Not Easily Broken does have an overlapping religious theme, anyone no matter what your religious beliefs willing to give this film a chance will be pleasantly surprised.

Actors: Morris Chestnut, Taraji P. Henson, Maeve Quinlan, Kevin Hart, Wood Harris, Jenifer Lewis.

danceability-1, Amsterdam Holland

While the film was engaging on many levels, I kept wondering what was not sitting right with me. The more I thought about it, I realized that the male lead in this film was painted as a long-suffering, perfect mate while his wife was the nagging, negligent, career driven failure. The turning point in the film and their marriage was when the female lead approached her husband and apologized for the failures in their marriage. While she had a lot to be sorry for, I've never seen such a one sided marriage in real life. Really, couldn't there be ONE thing the husband could be working on in the marriage? It's VERY unrealistic for such perfection in a human being. I say all this to say that this is what happens when a "female" driven drama (b/c that's the audience this film is hoping will show up) is produced, written, directed, shot and edited by men. Not that men couldn't not do a good job, but this is clearly an example where there was no female input to add balance to the story. On so many levels, it's very unrealistic if not just downright disturbing.

Preachy? What do you expect from a film directed by a preacher? I thought the storyline was focused and the acting fairly notable. I think most of us can relate too relationship woes where solutions are rarely sought, let alone resolved. I enjoyed it.

It's discouraging to see people down-rate any movie which has a Christian side to it. There are plenty of movies without this aspect; I don't see why the few with positive messages should bother anyone. Since we do have a spiritual component to our lives, I'm glad when I can have a movie such as this for our weekly "family night." This movie portrayed real life situations and made for great conversation afterward.

I really enjoyed these actors and want to find their other works. I thought the emotions shown in the many heavy situations were very well done.

The stories themselves were very good, and as I said, pertinent to real life. I have my own family, and have seen these struggles in our own families and in our friends'.

I've never read any books by T.D. Jakes, but after seeing this, I'll go look for some of his books.

I wanted support the movie because I am a big fan of T.D. Jakes' works. I went with a sibling who was also skeptical about the film because of the lack of buzz around it. To sum up our experience, we were SO GLAD that we went to view it last night. We thoroughly enjoyed the film as did the rest of the audience. We are still talking about it.

Morris Chestnut and Taraji Henson did a great job with their roles. I highly recommend the movie for couples, singles, divorcées, and etc. as the movie makes points about relationships that everyone can relate to on some level - yet without beating you over the head.

Do not go by the reviews, go and see this movie for yourself - you will not be disappointed!