"Noah’s Arc" Succeeds at Jumping to the Big Screen

Noah’s Arc: Jumping the Broom is a ferociously funny, witty, and sexy bookend to the groundbreaking television series of the same name which aired on Logo (AfterElton.com’s parent company) for two seasons. Playing like an extended version of the most well-written and acted episode of the show, the film version successfully extends the scope of the series to fit its big-screen surroundings.

Most easily described as a gay version of Why Did I Get Married with a little Sex and the City-style raunch thrown in, not only will Jumping the Broom please die-hard fans of the show while being entirely accessible to new viewers, it immediately ascends to the top of a largely-ignored subgenre: the gay romantic comedy.

While gay movies are too often sorry tales of heartrending coming out stories, AIDS dramas, and doomed love affairs, visions of happy, healthy gays loving, laughing, and living are sorely lacking on film. After seeing Noah’s Arc, I racked my brain to find a gay romantic comedy that comes close to the level of humor and warmth on display here, and I simply couldn’t find any.

After years of false starts (Trick) and charming but ultimately hollow efforts (A Four Letter Word), Jumping the Broom delivers smashingly on this score, coupling the engaging characters you know and love with a matter-of-fact attitude toward gay marriage that has never before been seen on film. The impending nuptials in the story are never treated as anything less than such; for the gay couples in Noah‘s world, marriage is simply something that is done when two people love each other.

From left to right: Noah (Stephens), Wade (Atwood),
Chance (Douglas Spearman) and Eddie (Jonathan Julian)

And to see healthy and happy gays co-existing on film, gays to whom marriage is simply the next logical step in a relationship, is extremely rare, even more so given that this film has a nearly entirely black and Latino cast. Diversifying the images seen of gay culture is as important as increasing gay visibility in general, and Jumping the Broom does this effortlessly by creating memorable situations and characters to which all audiences can connect.

The film takes its title from slavery-era slang for getting married (a broom was literally jumped over in view of witnesses due to the lack of access to other signifiers), and also jumps forward in real time two years after the events of the Noah’s Arc series finale that found Wade and Noah inching back together after a serious motorcycle accident.

This outing finds the gang heading to Martha’s Vineyard for the wedding of the two doe-eyed lovers, but the road to the altar ends up a bit bumpier than expected. The 101 minutes of Jumping the Broom are so jam-packed with plot it seems as if all involved are making up for lost time. Unwanted guests arrive, relationships are tested, and sometimes-outlandish plot twists abound, but Darryl Stephens grounds the proceedings, infusing Noah with a newfound confidence and resolve that results in the most layered performance in the film.

Darryl Stephens