THE PREACHER'S WIFE
A film review by Michael Dequina
Copyright 1996 Michael Dequina
The Preacher's Wife (PG) *** (out of ****)
'Tis the season for shopping, gift-giving, and feel-good family films like The Preacher's Wife, which, despite a major problem (which can be summed up in two words), gets the uplifting job done.
In Penny Marshall's frothy reworking of 1947's The Bishop's Wife, Denzel Washington plays Dudley, an angel sent down from Heaven to help Reverend Henry Biggs (Courtney B. Vance), who is doubting his ability to make a difference to the community and his family--wife Julia (Whitney Houston) and son Jeremiah (Justin Pierre Edmund). Dudley does his best to restore the reverend's faith in himself, but along the way he cannot help but be sidetracked by what earth has to offer, including the neglected Julia and Jeremiah, who savor the attention he, and not Henry, gives them.
It's good to see the gifted Washington in a departure from the heavy dramatic roles he's made his name in, and he has a ball as the funloving and well-meaning Dudley; the fact that he does so well in a lighthearted role is just a testament to his remarkable talent. Vance is likely to go underappreciated for his subtle performance; he manages to make the audience care without resorting to showy theatrics. Perhaps the most memorable turns come from a trio of supporting players. Loretta Devine has a few choice moments of neurosis as Henry's put-upon secretary; the hilarious Jenifer Lewis all but steals the show as Julia's sassy mother; and Edmund is a natural charmer as Jeremiah. He's bound to leave audiences going "aw" all through the movie as he did with the preview audience I was in.
To her credit, Houston gives her least annoying performance to date. In a wise move, Marshall and screenwriters Nat Mauldin and Allan Scott have her break into spirited gospel numbers whenever the story allows it, and it is during these moments that she truly comes to life, showing an infectious energy like never before on the big screen. But when the music dies down, so does her performance. As an actress, Houston is the blandest of the bland. She can't make a line sound natural to save her life; every word that comes out of her mouth sounds scripted. She is also an oddly chilly, distant, self-involved presence; she does not have a convincing maternal rapport with Edmund, let alone any romantic sparks with Vance or Washington. It's as if she's acting in a box apart from everyone else. As a result, the emotional involvement in Henry and Julia's relationship--the center of the story--is weakened. We want Henry to get his life together and make his family happy because he, Jeremiah, and Dudley want it; the fact that Julia is involved at all is of little consequence.
But the aim of The Preacher's Wife is to make the audience walk out of the auditorium with smiles on their faces and their spirits lifted, and I cannot imagine anyone not giving in at least in part to its charms--of which there are many. It is a fun, feel-good family film that actually does leave you feeling good.
Michael Dequina mrbrown@ucla.edu | mrbrown@michaeljordanfan.com Visit Mr. Brown's Movie Site at http://members.tripod.com/~MrBrown/ Personal Page: http://members.tripod.com/~MrBrown/home.html
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews