Movie Review: 'Not Easily Broken'

Chronicling the story of one couple’s love, loss and ultimate faith in one another, Not Easily Broken follows the lives of Dave (Morris Chestnut) and Clarice (Taraji P. Henson) Johnson in their second decade of marriage.

Dave’s dreams of major league baseball success were dashed by an injury in college, leading him to a steady but unfulfilling career as the head of a small construction firm. Clarice is basking in the glow of real estate stardom, creating a life that revolves around her rise to the top. She has become blind to Dave’s needs, the most important being his desire to become a father and start a family with her.

Soon Dave and Clarice must face a married couple’s most serious questions: are we really meant to be together, and if we are, how do we fight to keep what we have built as man and wife?

Storyline:

Within moments of being introduced to Dave, its crystal clear that he's not happy, his wife's career is going better than his, his dream of playing professional ball has died, and Clarice has solely killed his other dream of having kids. Clarice, on the other hand, realizes the problems of her marriage, but with her career in full force, she doesn't really seem to mind the sacrifice, though its clear that the tension is building.

It isn't until Dave is late to pick her up for the ceremony, that would crown her "Salesperson of the Year", that Clarice reaches her breaking point, but before the fire can completely ignite in the heat of the argument, a car wreck puts Clarice in a wheelchair, and she's forced to turn to Julie, a physical therapist, to help her recuperate. Unfortunately, matters are taken to the extreme, when Clarice's mother, Mary blames Dave for the accident, and to an even higher extent, when he takes a liking to Julie and her son, Bryson.

The problem with the storyline, is it always manages to fall short in some aspect, like for instance, Clarice's accident isn't used enough to add depth to the script. One minutes she's in a wheelchair and then five minutes later, she walking like nothing ever happened, which leaves the whole situation with very little meaning. The writer's could have used the instance to further drive the tension between Clarice and Dave, which they do to a certain point, but its never quite enough. Another example, is the lingering of Julie and Dave's feelings towards each other are extremely downplayed, their moments between each other just aren't eye catching or eluding enough, but just simply there.

It all seems rather thrown together and feels like the writers didn't make an attempt to adequately think out the story. That said, Clarice does the heavy lifting of the story, as she goes through a range of emotions and ultimately makes the choice to save her marriage, which doesn't sit well with her mom.

The end is a little more enticing than the beginning, given it involves a unseen death and Dave claims his dream, however, none of that isn't enough to save the story.

Acting:

Occasionally, a sub par storyline is given a boost by it's cast performances, but this isn't one of those films. The acting is rather bland, and at times bad, especially in the seriously miscast Clarice, who is portrayed by Taraji P. Henson. Like I previously stated, Clarice is a large part of the movie's fountain and Taraji just doesn't bring enough to the character. No Depth. No Emotion. Nothing.

The standout is definitely Jenifer Lewis, who portrays Clarice's overbearing mother, and its easy to see why she's the standout, because this is a role she's played a thousand times before. Whether you look back at her days on 'The Fresh Prince' and 'A Different World' or judge her most recent turn in Tyler Perry's 'Meet the Browns', she has always played the loud mouth, at times, ignorant woman that brings a few laughs and this role is no exception.

Direction & Visual:

Bill Duke, who helms the film, has done directing work before mostly sticking to television and straight to DVD movies, and though he does a pretty decent job, you can tell its not a task that comes easy, especially in the transitions.

That said, direction is the film's least problem.

Overall:

The movie isn't horrible, but it could have been loads better, in fact, if it had a better cast and a better crafted script, it would have, but wouldn't every film? In addition, I mentioned earlier about Bill Duke's work mostly being limited to television and straight to DVD movies, well this one should have followed suit.

2.5 out of 5