Noah's Arc: Jumping the Broom
Encyclopedia
Noah's Arc: Jumping the Broom is a 2008 Canadian-American romantic
comedy-drama film
based on the LOGO
television
series Noah's Arc
. It was released on October 24, 2008 in select theaters
and video on demand
. The film is rated R for "sexual content and language".
) and his ARC: Alex Kirby (Rodney Chester
), Ricky Davis (Christian Vincent
), and Chance Counter (Doug Spearman
), retreat to Martha's Vineyard
for Noah's intimate marriage to Wade Robinson (Jensen Atwood
). While Alex's hubby, Trey (Gregory Kieth), video chats from home to babysit their newly adopted Ethiopian child, Chance brings his husband, Eddie (Jonathan Julian), and Ricky is accompanied by the 19-year old Brandon (Gary LeRoi Gray
) for some lighthearted fling-dating. But as the four couples hole up and attend separate bachelor parties, each relationship begins to unravel. Alex's pill-popping throughout the weekend, compiled with surprise drop-ins from Noah's boss, Brandy (Jennia Fredrique) and rapper Baby Gat (Jason Steed), don't help Noah and Wade work through last-minute jitters.
, who produced and directed the film and co-wrote with fellow series writer John R. Gordon
, the feature film version of the series, Jumping the Broom, picks up after the series' second season cliffhanger
finale and centers around the Martha's Vineyard wedding of the series' lead character Noah and his boyfriend Wade.
in theaters located in Los Angeles
, New York City
, Atlanta, Chicago
, Palm Springs
, and Washington, D.C.
. On November 7, the film was released in Ocean City, New Jersey
, Detroit, and San Francisco; and November 28 in Philadelphia and Dallas.
described it as "a lame feature". Several critics felt that the leap from cable to big screen was too great. The film currently holds a 43% 'fresh' rating on Rotten Tomatoes
.
(October 27, 2008). Theaters reported multiple sold-out screenings days in advance of the release and most added additional screenings to accommodate the overwhelming fan response. In fact, the film had an opening weekend per screen average of $30,336 and narrowly came second for top per screen average by the Clint Eastwood
/Angelina Jolie
film Changeling
, which opened in limited release the same weekend and averaged $32,601. Theaters playing the film opening weekend reported by mid-December it had taken just over $532,000 at the US box office despite the film receiving little to no mainstream marketing support and never played on more than 7 screens at once during its 7-week theatrical run. By the end of its run, the film had grossed a domestic total of $532,878.
nominations: Outstanding Independent Feature Film, Outstanding Writing in a Feature Film, and Outstanding Directing in a Feature Film. The film was also nominated for GLAAD Award
's for Best Feature Film (Limited Release), in which it won.
and features Michelle Williams
, Bob Sinclar
, Roy Young, and Phoebe Snow.
Romance film
Romance films are love stories that focus on passion, emotion, and the affectionate involvement of the main characters and the journey that their love takes through courtship or marriage. Romance films make the love story or the search for love the main plot focus...
comedy-drama film
Comedy-drama
Comedy-drama is a genre of theatre, film and television programs which combines humorous and serious content.-Theatre:Traditional western theatre, beginning with the ancient Greeks, was divided into comedy and tragedy...
based on the LOGO
Logo (TV channel)
Logo is an American digital cable television channel owned by Viacom's MTV Networks division. Launched in June 2005, the channel's programs are geared towards the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender community...
television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
series Noah's Arc
Noah's Arc (TV series)
Noah's Arc is an American cable television dramedy. The series, which predominantly features gay black and Latino characters, focused on many socially relevant issues, including same sex dating, same-sex marriage, same-sex parenthood, HIV and AIDS awareness, infidelity, promiscuity, homophobia, gay...
. It was released on October 24, 2008 in select theaters
Limited release
Limited release is a term in the American motion picture industry for a motion picture that is playing in a select few theaters across the country ....
and video on demand
Video on demand
Video on Demand or Audio and Video On Demand are systems which allow users to select and watch/listen to video or audio content on demand...
. The film is rated R for "sexual content and language".
Synopsis
Noah Nichols (Darryl StephensDarryl Stephens
Darryl Joseph Stephens is an American actor. He is best known for playing Noah Nicholson on the television dramedy Noah's Arc.-Early life:...
) and his ARC: Alex Kirby (Rodney Chester
Rodney Chester
Rodney Chester is an American actor. He is best known for his role as Alex Kirby on the Logo sitcom Noah's Arc.-Biography:Originally from Cocoa Beach, Florida, Chester graduated from Bethune-Cookman College with honors before moving to Los Angeles to pursue dancing, choreography and theater...
), Ricky Davis (Christian Vincent
Christian Vincent
Christian Vincent is a Canadian-American professional dancer, choreographer, actor and model. His most visible role has been as Ricky Davis on the LOGO sitcom Noah's Arc, which chronicles the lives of four gay African-American friends in Los Angeles.Vincent has also appeared in the films She's All...
), and Chance Counter (Doug Spearman
Doug Spearman
Doug Spearman is an American actor. His career highlights include work on such television shows as Star Trek Voyager, The Drew Carey Show, The Hughleys, Charmed, Gideon's Crossing, MAD TV, Girlfriends and Profiler.Spearman grew up in Hyattsville, Maryland and attended Indiana University...
), retreat to Martha's Vineyard
Martha's Vineyard
Martha's Vineyard is an island located south of Cape Cod in Massachusetts, known for being an affluent summer colony....
for Noah's intimate marriage to Wade Robinson (Jensen Atwood
Jensen Atwood
Jensen Atwood is an American actor who was raised and currently resides in South Central, Los Angeles. He has two younger sisters and two older brothers. Raised by his mother with older brother Jason "String" Atwood...
). While Alex's hubby, Trey (Gregory Kieth), video chats from home to babysit their newly adopted Ethiopian child, Chance brings his husband, Eddie (Jonathan Julian), and Ricky is accompanied by the 19-year old Brandon (Gary LeRoi Gray
Gary LeRoi Gray
Gary LeRoi Gray is an African-American actor and voice actor involved with movies, television, and animation. He is most recognized for his childhood role as Nelson Tibideaux, the son of Sondra Huxtable Tibideaux and Elvin Tibideaux on the NBC sitcom The Cosby Show...
) for some lighthearted fling-dating. But as the four couples hole up and attend separate bachelor parties, each relationship begins to unravel. Alex's pill-popping throughout the weekend, compiled with surprise drop-ins from Noah's boss, Brandy (Jennia Fredrique) and rapper Baby Gat (Jason Steed), don't help Noah and Wade work through last-minute jitters.
Cast
- Darryl StephensDarryl StephensDarryl Joseph Stephens is an American actor. He is best known for playing Noah Nicholson on the television dramedy Noah's Arc.-Early life:...
as Noah Nicholson - Christian VincentChristian VincentChristian Vincent is a Canadian-American professional dancer, choreographer, actor and model. His most visible role has been as Ricky Davis on the LOGO sitcom Noah's Arc, which chronicles the lives of four gay African-American friends in Los Angeles.Vincent has also appeared in the films She's All...
as Ricky Davis - Doug SpearmanDoug SpearmanDoug Spearman is an American actor. His career highlights include work on such television shows as Star Trek Voyager, The Drew Carey Show, The Hughleys, Charmed, Gideon's Crossing, MAD TV, Girlfriends and Profiler.Spearman grew up in Hyattsville, Maryland and attended Indiana University...
as Chance Counter - Rodney ChesterRodney ChesterRodney Chester is an American actor. He is best known for his role as Alex Kirby on the Logo sitcom Noah's Arc.-Biography:Originally from Cocoa Beach, Florida, Chester graduated from Bethune-Cookman College with honors before moving to Los Angeles to pursue dancing, choreography and theater...
as Alex Kirby - Jensen AtwoodJensen AtwoodJensen Atwood is an American actor who was raised and currently resides in South Central, Los Angeles. He has two younger sisters and two older brothers. Raised by his mother with older brother Jason "String" Atwood...
as Wade Robinson - Jonathan Julian as Eddie McEntire
- Jason Steed as Baby Gat
- Tonya PinkinsTonya PinkinsTonya Pinkins is an American actress and author known for her portrayal of Livia Frye on the soap opera All My Children and for her roles on Broadway, for which she won a Tony Award.-Biography:...
as Mrs. Robinson - Gary LeRoi GrayGary LeRoi GrayGary LeRoi Gray is an African-American actor and voice actor involved with movies, television, and animation. He is most recognized for his childhood role as Nelson Tibideaux, the son of Sondra Huxtable Tibideaux and Elvin Tibideaux on the NBC sitcom The Cosby Show...
as Brandon - Phoebe Snow as Herself
- Jennia Fredrique as Brandy King
Production
According to creator Patrik-Ian PolkPatrik-Ian Polk
Patrik-Ian Polk American film director, producer, screenwriter, singer, and actor. Polk, who is openly homosexual, is noted for his films that explore the LGBT experience and relationships....
, who produced and directed the film and co-wrote with fellow series writer John R. Gordon
John R. Gordon
John R Gordon is an Afrocentric white male writer resident in Shepherds Bush, London, England.Gordon script-edited two seasons of Patrik-Ian Polk's television show Noah's Arc for the US cable channel Logo. He wrote two episodes of the second season, and across 2007 co-storylined John R Gordon is...
, the feature film version of the series, Jumping the Broom, picks up after the series' second season cliffhanger
Cliffhanger
A cliffhanger or cliffhanger ending is a plot device in fiction which features a main character in a precarious or difficult dilemma, or confronted with a shocking revelation at the end of an episode of serialized fiction...
finale and centers around the Martha's Vineyard wedding of the series' lead character Noah and his boyfriend Wade.
Release
The film had a limited releaseLimited release
Limited release is a term in the American motion picture industry for a motion picture that is playing in a select few theaters across the country ....
in theaters located in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, Atlanta, Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, Palm Springs
Palm Springs, California
Palm Springs is a desert city in Riverside County, California, within the Coachella Valley. It is located approximately 37 miles east of San Bernardino, 111 miles east of Los Angeles and 136 miles northeast of San Diego...
, and Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
. On November 7, the film was released in Ocean City, New Jersey
Ocean City, New Jersey
Ocean City is a city in Cape May County, New Jersey, United States. It is the principal city of the Ocean City Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses all of Cape May County. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city population was 11,701...
, Detroit, and San Francisco; and November 28 in Philadelphia and Dallas.
Critical response
Although much lauded in the gay press, Jumping the Broom has been met with generally mixed reception elsewhere. Time Out called it "ludicrous", whilst VarietyVariety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
described it as "a lame feature". Several critics felt that the leap from cable to big screen was too great. The film currently holds a 43% 'fresh' rating on Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
.
Box office
The film surprised the entertainment industry by opening at number 1 on the independent film box office report, according to IndieWireIndieWire
indieWIRE is a daily news site for the independent film community. It covers indie, documentary and foreign language films, as well industry news, film festival reports, filmmaker interviews and movie reviews...
(October 27, 2008). Theaters reported multiple sold-out screenings days in advance of the release and most added additional screenings to accommodate the overwhelming fan response. In fact, the film had an opening weekend per screen average of $30,336 and narrowly came second for top per screen average by the Clint Eastwood
Clint Eastwood
Clinton "Clint" Eastwood, Jr. is an American film actor, director, producer, composer and politician. Eastwood first came to prominence as a supporting cast member in the TV series Rawhide...
/Angelina Jolie
Angelina Jolie
Angelina Jolie is an American actress. She has received an Academy Award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, and three Golden Globe Awards, and was named Hollywood's highest-paid actress by Forbes in 2009 and 2011. Jolie is noted for promoting humanitarian causes as a Goodwill Ambassador for the...
film Changeling
Changeling (film)
Changeling is a 2008 American drama film directed by Clint Eastwood and written by J. Michael Straczynski. Based on real-life events in 1928 Los Angeles, the film stars Angelina Jolie as a woman who is reunited with her missing son—only to realize he is an impostor. She confronts the city...
, which opened in limited release the same weekend and averaged $32,601. Theaters playing the film opening weekend reported by mid-December it had taken just over $532,000 at the US box office despite the film receiving little to no mainstream marketing support and never played on more than 7 screens at once during its 7-week theatrical run. By the end of its run, the film had grossed a domestic total of $532,878.
Accolades
The film received three NAACP Image AwardNAACP Image Award
An NAACP Image Award is an accolade presented by the American National Association for the Advancement of Colored People to honor outstanding people of color in film, television, music, and literature....
nominations: Outstanding Independent Feature Film, Outstanding Writing in a Feature Film, and Outstanding Directing in a Feature Film. The film was also nominated for GLAAD Award
GLAAD Media Awards
The GLAAD Media Award is an accolade bestowed by the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation to recognize and honor various branches of the media for their outstanding representations of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community and the issues that affect their lives...
's for Best Feature Film (Limited Release), in which it won.
Soundtrack
The soundtrack was released on October 21, 2008 by Tommy Boy RecordsTommy Boy Records
Tommy Boy Entertainment is an independent record label started in 1981 by Tom Silverman.-History:...
and features Michelle Williams
Michelle Williams (singer)
Tenitra Michelle Williams , commonly known as Michelle Williams, is an American singer, songwriter, record producer and actress...
, Bob Sinclar
Bob Sinclar
Bob Sinclar, originally spelled "Sinclair" - , is a French record producer, House music DJ, remixer and owner of the label Yellow Productions.- Career history :...
, Roy Young, and Phoebe Snow.