What happens when your in-laws become your bullies? We find out one outcome in Jessie Jalee’s The In-Law Gang. The film stars Jalee along with comedian Clifton Powell and follows Jalee’s Cassie – a celebrity chef – as she tries to navigate her new marriage with John Jr. (Nashawn Kearse) and the in-laws that come with it. Their love seems real and true until her mother-in-law, Madelyn (LaShonda LaLa’ Courtney) turns the family against Cassie whom she deems not good enough for her son. Of course there’s more to the story than meets the eye and as we move towards the straw that breaks Cassie’s back, we embark on a journey full of twists, turns, hidden secrets and surprises. 

We find out early on why Madelyn hates Cassie, but Cassie doesn’t know and is flummoxed as to what Madelyn and her family could possibly be holding against her. Especially since she’s the mother of one of Madelyn’s granddaughters. Madelyn, along with her daughter Missy (La Rivers) conspire to remove Cassie from the equation. 

What’s even wilder is Cassie’s sister, Kelly (Cherie Danielle) who feels like the black sheep of the family and decides to make what belongs to her sister, hers. Add in a host of trifling daddies, cousins and best friend Damion (Alfred E. Rutherford) and you have a heavily populated tale of pettiness and revenge. 

I won’t sugarcoat it, The In-Law Gang is best classified as a step above Tubi. It’s as low budget as it comes, but in this case you can tell the team came together to make a fun film and in that respect they were successful. I became invested in Cassie standing up for herself and fighting back against the in-laws, and the way she did it was surprising to say the least. I can safely say this movie is not predictable. I didn’t have a clue what was next until the end credits. 

Jalee has said that the film is loosely based on her personal true story. Now, after seeing the film it makes me wonder if any parts of this movie would be admissible in court! But she insists that she wants the audience to learn from her experience, and live vicariously through her trauma. Ultimately the film screens as a comedic thriller. There are issues that are par for the course with these types of films. The pacing is way too fast in some places and achingly slow in others. There’s very little concept as to how much time has passed and the realities of legality are brushed away in service to the narrative. 

My other gripe has to do with the ending and while I don’t want to spoil anything, I will say I think they were a little too eager to throw in another zinger. In a scene that appeared to be mostly improv, everything is upended and then the film simply ends. There is a scenario in which this works, but to pull it off, I would have made the end credits be a continuation of the scene, instead of the frankly tepid “gag reel”. 

Overall, I feel like this was an interesting idea that just needed a bit more fine-tuning in its execution. Jalee has an interesting POV with putting a story together, but the devil is in the details and when the narrative doesn’t flow smoothly it makes the mistakes that much more glaring. I believe in her growth. Jalee has been cast in more mainstream projects like The Color Purple out later this year and I look forward to seeing where her experiences will take her. 

While I don’t know if I can wholly recommend this film, I will say for those who love Black dramaaaa, indie/low budget film, and wild storylines, then you’ll get a kick out of The In-Law Gang.

The In-Law Gang received a limited theatrical release on June 30th, but will be available to stream on VOD, August 1st.