Sister Act - Eine himmlische Karriere

Starring: Whoopi Goldberg, Maggie Smith, Harvey Keitel The nineties were an interesting time for movies to be made. This is hardly a spectacular film, but it is certainly amusing, and there are far worse things you can waste your time on. Like cable.

The plot of the movie is fairly basic. Delores VanCartier (Goldberg) is a lounge singer with a married lover who happens to be a drug dealer and other crime related stuff. Delores decides that she's going to leave Vince (Keitel), but when she goes to give him back the jacket he gave her and say goodbye, she happens to walk in right as Vince is getting his goons to shoot his less than loyal limo driver. Oddly enough, Delores runs like the dickens, basically straight to the police station.

Apparently it will take about two months for a trial date, so until that time, one of the officers hides Delores in a place that Vince would never look for her. A convent. Delores, an off colour black woman with a racy past, ends up pretending to be a nun. The Reverend Mother of the convent (Smith) is slightly less than thrilled at the prospect of having Delores stay with them, but the police do make a substantial donation to compensate them for their kindness.

After a long period of not fitting in anywhere in the convent, the Reverend Mother finally decides to put Delores in the choir. Delores brings her musical talent to the table, and the once atrocious choir at the convent starts to get a little bit better. Then a lot better. Eventually they are ready to sing in mass, and when they do sing, the rest of the nuns just look back and forth at each other as if they can't believe their ears. You can almost hear the thoughts streaming through their minds: "THIS can NOT be the same choir!" But rather than just sing traditional hymns, Delores jazzes things up a little bit and puts some twists into a few old favorites. This doesn't exactly thrill the Reverend Mother, but since it does bring people from the streets into the mass services, she can hardly object.

The convent gains popularity, the crowds start pouring in, and the once backwards convent starts to right itself, thanks to Delores. However, since there is a leak in the police station, Vince eventually finds out where Delores is hiding and goes to find her.

The rest of the movie plays out in a fairly standard manner, but it still highly amusing. Like I said before, not an Academy Award winning flick, but a good way to kill an hour and a half without having to think too hard.

Bottom Line: 3 out of 4 (worth a look)

TIDBIT - Bette Midler was the original choice for the lead in "Sister Act".

That may have been cute (a Jewish nun?) but in choosing Whoopi, "Sister Act" gives itself a shot in the arm with an incomparable comic talent and insures every scene with Deloris/Mary Clarence is a highlight unto itself.

After witnessing a Mob hit courtesy of her boyfriend (Keitel), casino lounge singer Whoopi hightails it to her local police where a helpful cop (Nunn) puts her in the Witness Protection Program and before you can say "holy, holy, holy", sends her to the last place in the world anyone would think of finding a second-rate lounge singer.

Once the church, nuns and choir music with a Motown beat are all introduced, things pick up steadily. All the nuns are funny (especially Najimy as the eternally sunny Sister Mary Patrick) and there are so many good scenes to be had thereafter (the bar scene, the first choir practice, the blossoming of Sister Mary Robert (Makkenna), etc.), that you can't help but smile, even if you're tired of nuns as a springboard for comedy.

And there's something about the music: the gospel-tinged soul songs like "My God", "I Will Follow Him" and such lift your spirits and are infectious in their own right. The last scene in the movie is quite moving, truth be told, and lets you in on a secret... God moves in mysterious ways.

Amen.

Nine stars. These "Sister"s rock!

This is, indeed, a comedy. It is mostly funny, though it won't have anybody rolling in the aisles. This movie is terrific, but not because of the acting or directing...what this movie does is demonstrate the possibility of positive change. If you allow yourself to suspend disbelief about certain aspects of the plot, you'll discover that you can relate to and understand the struggles the sisters go through. They are universal--every human being has been in some dysfunctional, stuck or dying organization. Everybody knows what it feels like, and everybody wishes that they could do something about it.

I think every member of every church, synagogue, mosque, house of worship, civic organization, school, committee, and/or organization of any kind should be tied to a chair and made to watch this movie. It's a paean to possibility, and a wonderful encouragement to those who believe that life could be better than it is.

I seem to be the only person who has noticed the remarkable similarity between "Sister Act" and "Brother Orchid", a 1940 Edward G. Robinson film. Does anyone else agree? Certainly the details of the plot have been changed to make the central character female and a singer. In the earlier play/film the Robinson character was a gangster who took refuge in a monastery when he was in trouble with the mob. He uses his business "talent" to put the institution on a better footing, as I remember, by selling flowers. The basic plot is that of the worldly individual entering a religious setting, at first attempting to con the inmates, and then becoming a real part of their system.

This movie is very entertaining, even if you know what is going to happen the entire time. The singing is glorious and the cast is up for anything. Whoopi is terrific and funny - so is Kathy Nijimy. It's definately worth seeing, at least once.