Synopsis
A car accident and shifting affections test the bond between a married couple.
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Cast
- Morris ChestnutDave Johnson
- Taraji P. HensonClarice Clark
- Maeve QuinlanJulie Sawyer
- Kevin HartTree
- Jenifer LewisMary 'Mama' Clark
- Eddie CibrianBrock Houseman
- Wood HarrisDarnell Gooden
- Niecy NashMichelle
- Albert HallBishop Wilkes
- Jeff KrebsTrauma Doctor
Recommendations
- 63
Chicago Tribune
The film is likable. Its messages, many of them Lord-oriented, are all equally heartfelt. - 63
Boston Globe
For most of Not Easily Broken, I wondered why the movie wasn't worse. Then I remembered it was directed by the veteran Bill Duke, who applies ample TLC. - 50
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Director Bill Duke may believe the message but he never invests himself in the characters or their story, which becomes an illustrated lesson with reflective interludes and comic relief. - 50
San Francisco Chronicle
Unfortunately, for those who do not subscribe to the notion that God's dust smooths a marriage's rough patches, but rather hard work by people do, the message rings hollow. - 50
The Hollywood Reporter
The actors do what they can with the cards they're dealt but can't overcome the nakedness of the dialogue or the characters' actions. Duke does ensure that the production flows smoothly though. And those frequent injections of comedy do wonders. - 50
The New York Times
Mr. Duke’s filmmaking is functional at best, and the extreme shifts in emotional tone -- especially a late and disastrous swerve into tragedy -- are handled clumsily in Brian Bird’s script. Yet Not Easily Broken is not easily dismissed. For one thing, the cast is excellent, and for another, its intentions are serious and generous. - 50
Baltimore Sun
The whole thrust of the movie is to warn black women against emasculating their men. - 50
Chicago Reader
Based on the novel by T.D. Jakes, this is a queasy mix of comedy, melodrama, and self-help spirituality; it's meant to be uplifting, but its profamily message is undercut by its virulently misogynistic treatment of the realtor and her mother (Jenifer Lewis), both too shrewish and controlling to be believed.
