There were three things my father said to me before he left my family several years ago: First was "Make sure you find a good woman and settle down," second was "Don't do drugs...in mass quantities," and third was "Never willingly see a movie endorsed by Tyler Perry." Yet when I saw the cover of Not Easily Broken and Perry's quote about the film being "a powerful movie," I couldn't help wonder what Perry knew and my father didn't.

The film was originally a best-selling novel by T.D. Jakes, pastor of a huge Dallas church and host to huge events in his ministry. Adapted to film by Brian Bird (Bopha!) and directed by Bill Duke (Predator), the film's focus is on Dave (Morris Chestnut, The Cave) and Clarice (Taraji P. Henson, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button), a successful couple that has been married for over a decade. Clarice is a real estate agent and Dave works as a contractor, but also spends time at the local baseball field with an inner-city boys' team. This community service, if you will, is a small bone of contention for Clarice. But while Dave does his part and pays it forward, he also wants to start a family of his own, which Clarice is resisting. She feels that having and raising a child will put the brakes on her success as a saleswoman, and in fact she and Dave go to an awards ceremony which honor's Clarice as the Salesperson of the Year. On the way there, they are hit by a car, and Clarice is left with a severely broken right leg. Her mother Mary (Jenifer Lewis, Meet the Browns) moves in and helps Clarice through therapy, but this is a concern to Dave. Dave and Mary have butted heads through the years, and Clarice's trust in her mother seems to trump anything Dave might say.

Along with her mother, Clarice receives help in the way of physical therapy sessions from Julie (Maeve Quinlan, The Bold and the Beautiful), whom Dave meets at the gym where he and his friends work out at. Dave and Julie strike up a seemingly innocuous friendship, mainly through Julie's son, whom Dave invites to the baseball field to practice with. Mary seems to think that this friendship is starting to become a problem, and starts to plant these seeds in Clarice's thinking. Dave and Clarice's marriage starts to gradually fall apart; Clarice thinking that Dave spends too much time either at the ball field or taking secret phone calls from Julie, and Dave feeling that Mary is too involved with their marriage.

In the supplemental material on the disc, Jakes discusses his motivation for writing the book, and how it shines a light into the male psyche to some degree, outside of the locker room talk. But it also serves as an effective message for African American men. Getting to the subplot first, one of the kids Dave coaches has a father named Darnell (Wood Harris, The Wire). Darnell and Dave were friends growing up, on a fast track for athletic success, when Darnell was caught selling drugs. Shortly thereafter, Dave blew out his knee playing baseball, and their dreams were shattered. Darnell seems to view Dave with some resentment as to how he approaches things with Darnell's son, but Dave just wants the best for all the kids who play, and Darnell eventually realizes this. Both Harris and Chestnut effectively show two men who are proud and stand behind their emotions, and when Darnell sees what Dave is trying to do, the result is a poignant scene when Darnell calls his son and says he can practice with the team again. As a white man, I'm not sure how many Darnells there might be compared to Daves, but it's clear whose example should be followed.

Moreover, how African American men adjust to the societal roles of husbands in the changing 21st century proves to be interesting as well. Dave is not the breadwinner in the family, but he seems to monitor the finances, and frequently suggest to Clarice that they live more reasonably, as she seems to think that her success has become a golden ticket that will pay out whenever she beckons it. Clarice's reliance on Mary for guidance when Mary's guidance might be flawed is perhaps the thing that frustrates Dave the most, and he often feels like he's not being listened to. It's interesting to experience. That said, there still feel like there are some leaps of faith that have to be taken when it comes to the film. One of Dave's friends, who jests with Julie about stalking her, is the one who gives Dave the news about Julie's son, almost from out of the blue. But no, he's not stalking her at all. As I liked the Dave-Darnell subplot it felt a little hammered into the story, and Jakes' message about using faith/spirituality when it comes to working on a marriage and dealing with the stresses it will bring is overt to the point of being conscious of it.

Still, Not Easily Broken is a decent film with solid characters, despite these story gaps, and a couple others that feel forced. From a performance perspective, I enjoyed Chestnut's job in particular. It even has some good emotional moments punched into the story here and there as well, which makes for good couples' viewing, and it leaves you thinking about your role in a marriage, no matter what race you might be.

Sony gives us Not Easily Broken in a 1.85:1 widescreen 1080p high definition appearance, which uses the AVC MPEG-4 codec. I was expecting a haphazard presentation, which I got in parts, though not quite to the degree that actually occurs. Blacks are inconsistent, ranging from looking inky and rich in church, to having issues during naturally lit darker scenes (like when Dave and Clarice try to reconcile). The film's daylight sequences and the flesh tones in them, and other places are reproduced quite accurately, with much detail to be had in the tight shots. Yet while the film suffers from occasional bouts of image softness and excessive film grain, it's an otherwise solid feature.

The Dolby TrueHD 5.1 soundtrack surprises. Music is fairly prevalent, and it has quite the decent little sound range to it. But it has some clever moments when dialogue pans from the center channel to the right (or left) channels in various sequences, and when Julie's son races in the swim meet, crowd noise and environmental effects make you feel like you're at poolside watching the race, or in the gym when Dave and his friends are playing basketball. All in all this was a pleasant sonic experience.

The making of look at the film (13:44) doesn't cover anything of note. The cast and crew discuss their personal interest in Jakes' novel, and Jakes (with wife Sarita) talk about how their personal experiences were introduced in the novel. The segment is really more on the story than on the actual production, which was a nice change of pace, though hardly revelatory. Five deleted scenes (5:15), two of which are extended sequences, are next. The scenes reintroduce Clarice's real estate agent career, which ultimately didn't figure into the final cut and aren't worth watching as it is. Trailers for Seven Pounds, This Christmas, Hancock, The Pursuit of Happyness and Hitch are the only other things on this BD-Live enabled disc.

I came away from Not Easily Broken with a better understanding of the types of things that African American men might be dealing with today. In past years, it was a message of responsibility and ownership, now it's how to how to acquire those in 21st century America. Technically it's a solid looking Blu-ray, but supplementally feels a bit light. Either way, Not Easily Broken is a pleasant request for your time and consideration.