Morris Chestnut, Taraji P. Henson Keep ‘Not Easily Broken’ From Falling Apart

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CHICAGO – Stars Morris Chestnut and Taraji P. Henson do their best to make Bill Duke’s “Not Easily Broken” a genuine domestic drama instead of the cluttered melodrama that it easily could have been with two lesser actors in the lead roles.

The film opens in 1995 with the marriage of Dave Johnson (Chestnut) and Clarice Clark (Taraji P. Henson). The man marrying these two beautiful people suggests that the bond of three strands is not easily broken. Dave is one, Clarice is the other, and God is the third. Of course, the film to follow will challenge the breakability of this marriage but not in the ways that you might expect.

Morris Chestnut as
Morris Chestnut as Dave Johnson and Taraji P. Henson as Clarice Clark in TriStar Pictures’ drama Not Easily Broken.
Photo credit: Ron Phillips/Sony Pictures

Years later, the life that Dave and Clarice thought they would have hasn’t turned out exactly as planned. Dave watched a promising sports career collapse when he injured himself at the end of his rookie year. Now, Clarice is the earner in the relationship, selling high-priced real estate to upscale couples.

Dave spends a lot of his time coaching his youth baseball league and wishing he was a father himself. He spends his nights with his friends Tree (Kevin Hart), an emotional young man who basically serves as comic relief, and Brock (Eddie Cibrian), a guy in the middle of a divorce. He’s not often at home and life has clearly pushed Dave and Clarice apart.

Taraji P. Henson as Clarice Clark in TriStar Pictures' drama Not Easily Broken.
Taraji P. Henson as Clarice Clark in TriStar Pictures’ drama Not Easily Broken.
Photo credit: Ron Phillips/Sony Pictures

They’re slammed back together, literally, by a horrible car accident that leaves Clarice in need of some serious medical care. Clarice’s mother, the antagonistic “Mama” Clark (Jenifer Lewis), comes to live with the couple and a pretty, blonde physical therapist named Julie (Maeve Quinlan) is hired.

In one of the film’s most interesting passages, Dave laments the traditional role of the husband after a tragedy being taken away from him as Clarice’s mother helps with the emotional recovery and Julie takes care of the physical. The accident that could have brought Dave and Clarice closer pushes them further apart, until another tragedy forces the couple to truly decide if their marriage lives up to the title of the film.

“Not Easily Broken” works only because of Bill Duke’s unobtrusive direction and genuine performances from two talented leads. Morris Chestnut has a quiet presence that’s perfect for Dave. He makes his character’s withdrawal from his marriage feel completely genuine.

Meanwhile, Henson has quietly become one of the more consistent actresses of her generation. “Hustle and Flow,” “Talk to Me,” “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” and “Not Easily Broken” - she’s great in every single one.

These two actors ground “Not Easily Broken,” making the couple at the film’s core feel so much more genuine than usually seen in the domestic drama. The scenes between only the two of them, particularly a counseling session with the priest who married them, are the highlight of the film.

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Sadly, Duke and writer Brian Bird, working from a book by T.D. Jakes, can’t avoid the melodrama of the source material or its weakly-drawn supporting characters. There’s a twist in the final act that feels manipulative, but it wouldn’t be as problematic if everyone but Dave and Clarice didn’t feel like a plot device. Only the excellent Wood Harris (from “The Wire”) makes an impact as a thug character who, as one character says, “is a daddy but not a father”. Everyone else - Quinlan, Lewis, Hart, Cibrian - brings the film down when they’re on-screen.

“Not Easily Broken” is a film about modern male roles - father, mentor, friend, husband - that feels a little like it has an identity crisis of its own. It can fluctuate from manipulative TV melodrama to genuine character study within the same scene. Almost everything to like about “Not Easily Broken” is there in the two lead performances but the film rarely lives up to their excellent work. Chestnut and Henson keep the film together, but just barely.

‘Not Easily Broken’ stars Morris Chestnut, Taraji P. Henson, Jenifer Lewis, Maeve Quinlan, Kevin Hart, Eddie Cibrian, Niecy Nash, and Wood Harris. ‘Not Easily Broken,’ which was written by Brian Bird from the book by T.D. Jakes and directed by Bill Duke, opened in Chicago on January 9, 2009.

HollywoodChicago.com content director Brian Tallerico

By BRIAN TALLERICO
Content Director
HollywoodChicago.com
brian@hollywoodchicago.com

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