Handsome, talented, ambitious, and compelling, actor Shemar Moore takes on a new role in Hollywood as Executive Producer of upcoming film The Bounce Back.

TheBobbyPen.com was invited to preview the film, set to hit theaters nationwide on December 9th first, and boy was it a treat!

The Plot

Matthew Taylor (portrayed by Shemar Moore) is a successful author, motivational speaker and newly-single dad working to promote his new book “The Bounce Back,” while trying to figure out how to do just that since his wife of 10 years left him on a whim.

Anyway, his tour manager and best friend Terry Twist (portrayed by Bill Bellamy) is uptight and constantly on edge working to help make Matthew a success– like any good friend would– when the unexpected happened. A heckler at one of Matthew’s seminars catches the attention of an overzealous TV producer and throws off the guys’ plans entirely.

Long story short, the heckler named Kristin Peralta (portrayed by Nadine Velazquez)– who’s actually a clinical therapist, manages to make several TV appearances with Matthew for a “Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus” kind of thing. Spending so much time together, naturally, the two fall for each other. What happens once they do is the best part!

My Review

What I loved about this movie was how it worked to restore my faith in love. And not just in the romantic sense, but across the board. Kristin’s friends really wanted her to lighten up and enjoy life again as a single woman. They went out of their way to show her a great ladies night out, surprised her with a girls’ weekend getaway and was there for her when things with Matthew went sour. Or how Terry was more interested in Matthew’s book becoming a Best Seller than Matthew himself at times, and was very protective of his image– especially when it came to Kristin and her criticism. These are examples of true-blue friendship and helped me to take a step back and both examine my role as “friend” and better appreciate the good one’s I have in my life.

Then we got to see Matthew as a father. When his little girl introduced him to her “first love,” he didn’t do anything to scare him away. He played it cool in order to keep his baby girl happy, but he was right there for her with reassurance and unconditional love when it didn’t work out the way she had hoped. He was in crisis, but he was able to put his issues to the side in order to support his daughter.

The film also touched on co-parenting and how to move on from a failed relationship for the sake of your offspring. While Matthew was hurt, he manned up and was able to establish a relationship with “the new guy” and forgive his ex-wife for not being able to reciprocate the love he had shown her for over a decade. I don’t know about you, but I’m not sure I could’ve done that. That’s major!

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the film and would highly recommend you go see it with a friend (or bae.) Yes, Shemar Moore takes off his shirt several times in the film and that didn’t hurt either, but the message was so moving and powerful that I’d like to go see it again.

At the screening I had the opportunity to talk with Shemar Moore about his experience as a first time Executive Producer, crowdsourcing to have his fans show Hollywood that we want to see films like this and how important it was to him to have such a diverse cast to add more color to the big screen. You can watch our one-on-one above, and enjoy photos of the red carpet featuring Gospel artist Erica Campbell, How to Get Away with Murder’s Beth Payne, Carter High actor Orlando Valentino plus more below!

How have you recovered from love lost? Let me know below.