‘NOT Easily Broken” is as bland as the Kenny G-style smooth jazz its hero listens to in moments of distress.
I was in distress too, wilting beneath the crushing obviousness of this story of an LA contractor (Morris Chestnut) having communication problems with his wife (Taraji P. Henson of “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”) that he discusses at length with two guy friends. All of them sound like they’ve spent the last 10 years watching relationship advice on daytime television.
At the outset, a minister tells Dave the contractor and his real-estate agent wife, Clarice, that a marriage is like a rope with three strands: husband, wife and God. When the three are woven together, the rope is not easily broken.
The fourth strand, though, corrodes the other three. Clarice has a live-in mom who has appointed herself the marriage’s full-time heckler, and the movie would be over in five minutes if Dave threw her out of the house. Instead, there’s an accident that introduces a curvy blond physical therapist (Maeve Quinlan) into the house. One of Dave’s workout buddies wants to get next to her, but Dave finds himself sharing an emotional connection with her as his wife becomes increasingly tiresome.
Not as tiresome as the movie. At one point I looked at my watch, stunned that only an hour had gone by. I was stunned that it was still January. There’s a little guy who is being controlled by his wife, a nerdy white kid (“What’s crackin’, y’all?”) and lots of low-cal soul searching such as, “Why do bad things happen to good people?” Someone says, “Do not make me go Oprah on you. Because I will,” as if the entire movie isn’t up to its chin in Oprah-ism.
Fans of Tyler Perry may go for “Not Easily Broken,” which saunters along unassumingly with broad comedy, soapy confrontations, some churchy stuff and a surplus of niceness. How nice? The neighborhood ex-con (Wood Harris – Avon Barksdale from “The Wire”) challenges Dave to a really rough game of basketball.
But why go for imitation Tyler Perry when the master is so industrious? Perry’s next one should be along in about 10 minutes.
NOT EASILY BROKEN
Or easily endured.
Running time: 99 minutes. Rated PG-13 (sexual references, adult themes. At the Union Square, the Magic Johnson, the 84th Street, others.