MOVIE REVIEW

Director Bill Duke's film about a marriage in trouble over differing values is buoyed by strong performances from an ensemble cast.

By Glenn Whipp

The relationship drama "Not Easily Broken" comes from a novel by Pentecostal preacher T.D. Jakes, a novel that takes its title from an Old Testament passage about putting God at the center of marriage. The movie may be preaching to the choir -- and every inch of it feels like a sermon -- but it's a pretty decent homily, heartfelt and strongly delivered by a committed cast headlined by Morris Chestnut and Taraji P. Henson.

Bishop Jakes, who leads the 26,000-member Potter's House mega-church in south Dallas and wrote "Woman, Thou Art Loosed," has been accused of preaching a gospel of prosperity, but the movie's message of living within your means flies square in the face of that. One of the central problems in the crumbling, 10-year marriage between Dave (Chestnut) and Clarice (Henson) comes from her focus on status over substance, on Cadillacs over caring for her man. Dave wants kids; Clarice wants a career.

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The movie -- directed by veteran Bill Duke ("A Rage in Harlem") and adapted by Brian Bird -- isn't exactly progressive when it comes to its view of women in the workplace. The filmmakers see "Not Easily Broken" as a male version of "Waiting to Exhale," with the men (Eddie Cibrian and a funny Kevin Hart play Dave's best friends) looking for love, support and a good game of hoops (not necessarily in that order).

Dave and Clarice eventually withdraw into self-pity, with Dave discovering feelings for a single, blond mother (Maeve Quinlan) who gives him the things he wants most, not to mention a child (Cannon Jay) to dote on. The movie navigates pretty soapy waters and throws in a completely unnecessary tragedy to goose the drama. But it also gives its characters dimension, including Dave's shrill, meddling mother-in-law (Jenifer Lewis), who, it turns out, has her reasons for being bitter.

The underrated Chestnut and Henson, a likely Oscar nominee this year for playing the mother in "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," sell these scenes from a marriage for all they're worth. "Not Easily Broken" isn't perfect, but it is persuasive in its portrait of a husband and wife who must decide whether their frayed marriage is worth fighting to save.

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