SISTER ACT 2: BACK IN THE HABIT
A film review by James Berardinelli
Copyright 1993 James Berardinelli
Rating (Linear 0 to 10): 3.6
Date Released: 12/10/93 Running Length: 1:45 Rated: PG (Mature themes)
Starring: Whoopi Goldberg, Kathy Najimy, Wendy McKenna, Mary Wickes, Maggie Smith, James Coburn, Lauryn Hill Director: Bill Duke Producers: Dawn Steel and Scott Rudin Screenplay: James Orr, Jim Cruickshank, and Judi Ann Mason Music: Marc Shaiman Released by Touchstone Pictures
What happens when you have low-budget, low-profile motion picture that turns into an unexpected smash hit? You make a sequel, of course. And, as proven by SISTER ACT 2, as long as you have the star of the original, there's absolutely no need to concern yourself with little details like plot, characterization, or acting.
Deloris Van Cartier (Whoopi Goldberg) has returned to her Las Vegas act, although this time to considerably more applause than she experienced at the beginning of the previous movie. It doesn't take long for the sisters from the convent to show up and plead their case. They are now teaching at St. Francis High School in San Francisco, and the kids are out of hand. Could Deloris return with them, resume her alter ego of Sister Mary Clarence, and help sort things out? After a little friendly, nun-style persuasion, she agrees to don her habit again, and the rowdy students at St. Francis High get a new music teacher.
If there's one thing that SISTER ACT 2 does, it makes the viewer appreciate the first installment of the series. During the course of this film, I found myself longing for the original--and that's especially surprising because I wasn't fond of it. Nevertheless, chapter one had quite a bit more going for it than this sorry excuse for a sequel.
SISTER ACT was occasionally enjoyable because of the freshness and energy with which the pop-turned-gospel songs were performed. This time around, with the exception of the closing number ("Ain't No Mountain High Enough"), that exuberance is missing. In fact, most of the fifties and sixties songs have been replaced by rap numbers, and I can assure you that the technique doesn't work nearly as well. How many people really want to hear a rap version of "Joyful, Joyful"?
Also missing in action is Harvey Keitel (Yeah, I know his character is supposed to have ended up behind bars, but since when has that stopped anyone?), who was one of the better performers in the original. Wendy McKenna and Kathy Najimy are back, but their roles have been reduced to microscopic proportions. If it weren't such a pleasure to see these two, they might just as easily have been altogether eliminated. Of course, Whoopi Goldberg has also returned, but the less said about her so-called performance, the better.
The newcomers to SISTER ACT 2 don't do much for the movie. Michael Jeter, who plays a Franciscan father, isn't especially funny or entertaining (except during the previously-mentioned closing number, which is better by far than anything in the one-hundred minutes that precede it), and I'm still having trouble figuring out why James Coburn was given a part. The only one of the new group with any sparkle is Lauryn Hill, although her character of Rita is sketchily-developed, at best.
It's kind of frightening that it took three writers to come up with this "plot." The story is pieced together using all sorts of easily recognizable formulas, each tied to the others by some ridiculous plot device. The "dramatic" moments are enough to make even the most stalwart movie-goer cringe, and the comedy is flat. That leaves the musical number to supply redemption, and they're not up to it.
Those who like stale, formula-driven comedies with sickeningly-sweet happy endings, not to mention unbelievably-contrived plots, will find SISTER ACT 2 an example of good entertainment. However, I can't promise that everyone who enjoyed the initial installment will find this one as pleasant a diversion. The original was at least an attempt at something a little different. This one is exploitation, pure and simple--a blatant grab at milking money from an idea that's already bone dry. Maybe the movie-going public in general will forgive the producers for foisting this one upon them, but after sitting through it, I'm in no mood to grant absolution.
- James Berardinelli (blake7@cc.bellcore.com)
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