Not Easily Broken

When a couple hits a rough patch in the movies, it often turns into a more generalised gender war: it’s not just John versus Jane, it’s men against women. In this adaptation of TD Jakes’s novel, the sides are unevenly armed. Clarice (Taraji P Henson) may have financial success as a real-estate agent, but she loses sympathy points by always complaining about how much time husband Dave (Morris Chestnut) spends coaching baseball to deprived kids.

Things weigh even more heavily against womankind when Clarice’s mother (Jenifer Lewis) moves in to help Clarice recover from a broken leg and begins a campaign of Dave-demeaning. No wonder Dave is tempted by Clarice’s hot physical therapist, Julie (Maeve Quinlan); as we learn, he spends so much time with her only because her son needs a father. But even Saint Dave is ready to throw in the towel on his marriage.

In keeping with Jakes’s philosophy (he’s a leader of a Dallas megachurch), the moral of the film, delivered gently but firmly, is that Dave and Clarice need to invite God into their marriage. That’s a reasonable message, but it might feel more resonant if the script were a little fairer to both sexes.