Starring Whoopi Goldberg, Maggie Smith, Harvey Keitel, and Kathy Najimy
Directed by Emile Ardolino
Music and Lyrics by various
We're going to do something different for Holy Week this year with the two wildly popular Sister Act comedies. Originally conceived as a vehicle for Bette Midler, the movie was eventually retailored for Goldberg's more streetwise charms when Midler had no desire to play a nun. Goldberg may be an even-less-likely convent-dweller, but her wisecracks and some great numbers made this movie one of the biggest hits of the early 90's. How does the story of a lounger singer who ends up remaking a convent choir look nowadays? Let's begin with the young Delores Van Cartier (Goldberg) as her Catholic school teacher despairs of her learning anything about religion and find out...
The Story: Twenty years later, Delores is now a lounge singer in Reno, Nevada. She's placed in witness protection after witnessing her gangster boyfriend Vince LaRocca (Keitel) kill a man. To her horror, they place her among the nuns in a San Francisco convent. Neither she nor the stuffy Mother Superior (Smith) are happy about this at first, until she's put in charge of the church choir. She makes use of her performing experience to not only get them singing in harmony, but re-writes 60's girl group numbers as inspirational gospel routines for them.
Mother Superior is shocked, but Monsignor O'Hara (Joseph Maher), the parish priest, thinks it's a wonderful way to get more people into their failing parish. It does put the nuns on the street and gets them more involved with their congregation, but it also puts Delores front and center. Which is something she doesn't need, since Vince is still out there, gunning for her...
The Song and Dance: This may not have been written for Goldberg, but she still runs with the jokes anyway - literally, the two times she dashes through kitchens trying to escape Vince and his boys. All of the nuns are having a great time, especially Najimy as bubbly Sister Mary Patrick and Mary Wickes as grouchy former choir mistress Sister Mary Lazarus. We even get a real church in San Francisco standing in for St. Katherine's with some nice location shooting for the "Just a Touch of Love" meet the people montage.
Favorite Number: We open with a medley of 60's girl-group songs performed by Delores and two back-up singers that's intentionally cheesy, to the point of being a parody of lounge acts, including "Heat Wave" and two more songs we'll hear later. "Rescue Me" provides our first montage, depicting Dolores constantly having to do chores and cleaning, to her frustration. She even dances along while cleaning a car at one point, but Mother Superior isn't pleased. "Just a Touch of Love" is the other montage, this one showing how the popularity of the choir finally gets the nuns out into the world to meet their rough-and-tumble congregation. Check out Sister Mary Patrick getting so into the dance moves from some girls on the street, she forgets to follow after them!
Of course, the big ones here are the numbers for the nuns. Delores finally gets them singing together with a rocking gospel version of "Hail Holy Queen." "My God (Guy)" and the big finale "I Will Follow Him" are the re-written songs from Delores' Reno act. Both are delightful, especially "Follow Him," with its slow, reverent hymnal opening beautifully flowing into the faster gospel.
Trivia: It became a stage show in 2006 with additional music by Alan Menken. It opened in London in 2009 and transferred to Broadway in 2011, where it had a short run of a year and a half.
What I Don't Like: This is a typical 90's comedy, with stereotypical gangsters for villains and a cliché story about a woman discovering herself. It's also very much a Goldberg vehicle; those who aren't fans of hers probably won't be into this. For all the gags with the nuns, there's still a slight dark streak in the fact that Delores is on the run from people who want to kill her. And I'm surprised they didn't play up the interest between Delores and the cop assigned to her case (Bill Nunn) more. (Apparently, they were going to have a full-blown love interest, but it was cut. The stage show makes more use of this.)
The Big Finale: If you love Whoopi or goofy comedies from the early 90's, you'll want to give this sister act a spot on the heavenly choir.
Home Media: Easily found solo or bundled with its sequel Sister Act 2: Back In the Habit in any format. The solo DVD can often be found for under five dollars. Disney Plus has both with a subscription.
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