Sister Act, film review
Sister Act is a 1992 comedy film which is directed by Emile Ardolino, written by Paul Rudnick who used the pseudonym Joseph Howard, with the music by Marc Shaiman. The film stars Whoopi Goldberg as the main character, it also has, Maggie Smith, Kathy Najimy, Wendy Makkena, Mary Wickes, and Harvey Keitel starring.
The Budget of the film was 31 million dollars and it made 231 million dollars at the box office. It was very well received by critics and the public alike at the time and has since become regarded by some as a ‘classic’. It also went on to be nominated for multiple awards. A sequel came a year later with a musical stage version in 2006 and a third film is planned by Disney in the future.
The church where the film partially takes place, is a real church called St. Paul's Church in Noe Valley, San Francisco.
Firstly, I will admit I liked this film when I was younger. It is still a fun and entertaining film, with a good cast and a simple yet satisfying story. The story is surprisingly good at keeping your attention, it is a corny, feel good film, with good intentions. The film is a good watch, it is family safe in my opinion. However it does push the fake narrative, just become modern and the church would be popular again myth. Yet it only pushes this in the sense of church engagement and music in the church. The first part, church engagement is pushed as a new thing for the church in this film or at least a renewed idea. Yet the church already feeds the poor, clothes the homeless, offers family support and does support the poor. That has and will never change. The second part the music, it does have choirs that sing outside of masses and that sells albums with church and religious appropriate music. There are some other smaller and less serious mistakes, but they were more for comedy effect and of little importance.
The idea that modern music hits would drive people to go to church and convert to the faith in any great number has already been soundly disproven in the 20th century. The easy solutions that this film offers are childish and at worst irresponsible.
Yet keeping that in mind the film is still a fun watch and as long as you and the others with you watch this film knowing the truth, then the film is appropriate to watch.