The movie is about a woman named Judith (Jurnee Smollett-Bell) who fell for the temptation of another man while married to her husband, her childhood love, Brice (Lance Gross). Judith met Brice in church at the age of six. Judith's mom, Sarah (Ella Joyce), didn't approve of her falling for boys. But as time went on and they grew up, Brice soon asked Sarah for Judith's hand in marriage. Sarah agreed and Brice and Judith were married. They moved into their own place in Washington, D. C., after getting married. Judith and Brice didn't have much but they were happily in love.
The plot of the movie is Judith is unhappy in her marriage and slowly begins to leave it. In the beginning of the movie, Brice shoots down Judith's dream of owning her own practice by saying she should wait 10-15 years. She's unhappy in her job and sad that her husband doesn't believe she can have her own practice. Next, Brice and Judith are walking to their truck when Brice fails to make Judith feel safe after some young guys call Judith a "fine bitch." After that, Judith realizes (through Harley) that her sex life is boring and tries to make it exciting by coming home to have rough sex. Brice shoots Judith down yet again by telling her to eat her sandwich so they can do it the right way. Finally, Brice forgets Judith's birthday for the second year in a row. I believe that was the last straw in Judith's mind. The straw that drives her to Harley. At this point, Judith and Brice have been married for six years and together for nineteen years.
Meanwhile, Harley tries hard to seduce Judith. He begins to change Judith's views of her marriage. He begins to notice the changes in her appearance especially on her birthday when he sent her flowers. He admits on her birthday that he is willingly to do anything to be around her. Yet Judith won't budge. A few days after her birthday, Janice sends Judith to New Orleans with Harley to finalize a deal with Harley's shareholders. Janice tells Judith to flirt but not compromise herself and to be extremely careful. She says, "be nice, be aware, have fun but most of all, be careful." On the way back from New Orleans, Harley tries to have sex with Judith on his private plane. She resists but finally gives in. When they reach Washington, D.C., Harley takes her home and the same night Judith sneaks out to have sex with Harley. Harley begins to promise Judith he will help her start her own practice in marriage counseling if she leaves her husband. He begins to demand that Judith leave her husband. Brice notices that Judith doesn't come home and she's beginning to change so he goes to a club that she is at and pulls her out, begging her to come home and assuring her he loves her and is willingly to forgive her. Judith refuses and stays with Harley.
The movie ends with an older version of Judith walking into Brice's pharmacy. They discuss Judith's meds before Brice's new wife and their son walk in. Judith watches for awhile before leaving to meet her mother at a church meeting.
Here's the lessons I learned from this movie:
- Never leave the one you love for the one you like. Judith obviously liked Harley but loved Brice. You never leave the one you love because the one you like will usually mess you over.
- You never know what you have until its gone. Brice didn't realize how much he really loved Judith until she left. Though he didn't deserve it, he should have paid more attention to his wife before she stepped out.
- The grass isn't always greener on the other side. Judith shouldn't have assumed that just because Harley was sweet and paid attention to little details about her that he would be better than her husband for her. That was extremely bad judgement of her. She didn't bother to ask about Harley's sexual history although she pointed out the heels in his bedroom and jasmine scent in his living room at the beginning of the movie. She should have asked before assuming that he was entirely good. She should have had protection.
- Don't take what you have for granted. At the end of the movie, Brice had a new wife with a son and Judith was all alone because she cheated. Cruel stereotype Tyler Perry but yeah, Judith regretted cheating after seeing with his new family. She could have had all that if she would have sat down with her husband and communicated.
- Communicate with your partner. Judith and Brice could have worked things out before she stepped out of their marriage. She should have voiced her concern instead of searching for it elsewhere.
Sidenote: This is pretty much my opinion. Moreover, I felt the movie punished Judith. Brice constantly agreed with Judith's mother about everything. She had a complicated life. I don't feel she should have been punished for falling out of love with her husband. Maybe I would've felt better if Judith and Brice would've worked things out and changed for the better. Now Judith looked pretty bad at the end of this movie compared to Melinda. They both have the same disease. Is it right that Melinda contracted her disease due to being a wife and Judith received hers due to cheating so Judith gets the worse of it? I don't think that's right. The Examiner brings up some amazing points about this.