Actors Paula Patton, Laz Alonso and Dallas Pastor, Bishop T.D. Jakes star in ‘Jumping the Broom.’ (Photo courtesy of Sony Pictures)

With a star-studded cast, “Jumping the Broom” follows the meeting of two very different families at a wedding in Martha’s Vineyard. Referring to the old tradition of jumping over a broom when a couple is married, the film stars actors Paula Patton and Laz Alonso.

Playing Sabrina Watson, the story’s bride, Patton discusses how she really feels about her character in “Jumping the Broom.”

“Sabrina Watson is a romantic. She falls in love easily,” Patton said. “I called her a lovebug. When you first meet her in the film, she’s made some wrong decisions about men and has entered into things too quickly. Then, she calls on God to help guide her to find the right man for her. Then, she literally runs into Jason Taylor who becomes the man she’s going to marry.”

Patton, whose most recent film includes the Oscar-nominated movie “Precious,” claims that doing such a high-profile film has changed her career.

“Being part of that film gave me more hope and belief in the fact that we could have more art in movies today,” Patton said. “Cinema has become such a capitalistic venture. It’s all about the bottom line and how much money we’re going to make. ‘Precious’ was a labor of love, a true piece of art. It went on to do incredible things and win all these awards. It gave me space in film as an art form. Other than that, it just blessed me with more opportunities to work.”

Paula’s costar, Laz Alonso, has recently seen his career rise as well. Starring in the highest grossing film of all time, “Avatar,” Alonso talks about working with the film’s famous director James Cameron.

“Working with James Cameron elevated my work ethic tremendously,” Alonso said. “I feel like every film I leave from, I leave with something that I didn’t show up with. When I left ‘Avatar,’ I learned that my attention to detail was much, much greater than it was prior to working on the film.”

With a majority of the film’s actors being of African-American descent, “Jumping the Broom” has a primary focus on a minority culture. Both actors remember what Hollywood was like for a minority actor.

“When I moved to L.A. in 2001, it was the year when the NAACP, Jesse Jackson, and Al Sharpton were having talks with different studios and television networks about the lack of minorities on their channels and television shows,” Alonso said. “You see now, Lawrence Fishburne heading his own show, Forest Whitaker heading his own show, and Terrence Howard heading his own show. So, times have significantly changed in the positive for African-Americans and minorities in general in television.”

Patton claims that after reading the script for “Jumping the Broom,” she ‘thought it was a wonderful, romantic comedy.’ The actress relays what she thinks is important about the movie.

“What’s great about this film is that we’re not making judgment on anybody,” Patton said. “We’re just trying to say that we are all flawed, but our goal should be to strive to be better people.”

Alonso, who was prone to liking movies like “Boomerang” and “Coming to America,” when he was a kid, claims that those type of films are what inspired him to join the cast of “Jumping the Broom.”

“As guys, we like the action film. We like to always talk about the real macho blockbuster, shoot ‘em up movies, but the movies that stand out in my head were the romantic comedies,” Alonso said. “Those films that are forever classics, those are the ones that inspired me as a kid and brought my family together to watch a movie that made us laugh and cry and believe in love.”

“Jumping the Broom” opens in theatres nationwide May 6.