Sparkle

I watched this film because my wife put it in the queue. My thought was - oh well - another chick flick - with singing - this is going to hurt. And yes - it was a chick flick with singing - but I enjoyed this one. The stage performances by the character Sister probably helped - but I also thought the film was generally well done. Considering her age and experience - Jordin Sparks did a fantastic job. Her performance at the end was masterful. So I was surprised (again) when I came onto IMDb to see some details and saw that it was rated a lowly 4.9. After reading a few reviews I noticed that many of the people giving lower ratings were comparing this film with an earlier version. That almost always results in a low opinion of the later version. I am an "old white guy" so I did not see the earlier version. I thought this was good. I gave it a 7.

Sparkle is a low rent version of Dreamgirls so to speak a remake of an unremarkable film form the 70s is a bad film make no mistake about it. The direction is very amateur, the cinematography is crap and the performances are mostly questionable but the film has its charms as well as it's good moments. And although the film is way melodramatic and unintentionally funny at parts it still manages to be entertaining and consistently engaging. The film centers on a trio of sisters in a band called well "Sisters" lol. The plotting movers along expectedly as they have a minor rise to fame while dealing with their overprotective mother, love, drugs, sex and domestic abuse. But the film also delves a little deeper into the intricate relationships between them due most to the solid performance from Carmen Ejogo as Sister she's sultry and seemingly self centered but underneath that she's extremely protective of her sisters she basically raised as her mother had problems. Because of that her position in the group and her family is a difficult, multi layered one and the best exploration is done there. Everything else feels a little forced and flimsy. I don't wanna be to hard on the film because for the most part I enjoyed it and maybe thats because I enjoy lifetime movies. It has it's good moments and it's bad and the best I can say about Whitney Houston's involvement in the film is that she was a very talented woman earlier on in her career and I hope she's at peace now. Although a mixed bag there is enough here to merit a recommendation if this type of melodramatic, musical period piece appeals to you. I'd also like to say that even though the film is set in the past it never feels that way. The consistency is off as well as the logic and it feels very modern with some retro costumes. The film doesn't much sparkle as have a dull shine. 3/5

Jordan Sparks had a real shot at stardom. She is tall, beautiful and talented. Unfortunately, instead of following her father's direction, she chose to chase that no talent slob, Jason Derulo. This movie should not have been made. Poor writing. It took a purely sweet coming of age story and made it taudry. Sister was a beautiful young woman who had no idea how she could turn men on their heads. In this remake, she is overtly sexual to sell her singing group! WHY? When the original Sparkle was released, I was a teenager. This movie was so uplifting. It showed the truth about a little fame on the poor. Drug addiction, loan sharks, alcoholism. In the end, Sparkle and Stick make it because they believed in one another. Please stop ruining our past! Trash this version. Just stick to the original Sparkle and you'll be fine.

I absolutely loved this movie. All the actors did a great job. What a great way for Whitney to end her career with a such a beautiful project. She did a wonderful job. The story has a lot of differences from the original, but I loved these changes. I actually think this movie is superior to the original in many ways. The highlight for me was to see Whitney singing her gospel song, probably the best song performance ever captured in a movie. I read some people complain that the movie is different from the original, and I ask everyone what would be the point to copy the first movie? It would be boring. I actually find the remake more satisfying. In the first movie, the roles of the mother and also Dolores were almost non-existent, also the lighting and editing were bad. Also it was a very sad film, and while in the remake they still have sadness, it's actually more uplifting. This movie improves on everything. I'm actually planning on seeing it again.

There's an indisputable star of this synthetically watchable 2012 melodrama, and it's neither the late Whitney Houston in her last role nor Season 6 "American Idol" winner Jordin Sparks. It's relatively unknown British actress Carmen Ejogo (Maya Rudolph's sister in "Away We Go") who explodes off the screen in the meaty, scene-stealing role of Sister, the hell-raising eldest of a trio of daughters to Emma Anderson, an uptight, church-going woman who raised them on her own. Emma is Houston's supporting role, and while she proves she had the makings of a solid character actress, there is an unfortunate shroud of irony in her presence given her own tragic, tabloid-saturated life was itself a cautionary tale about the lure of drugs in show business. This time in the part Lonette McKee played superbly in the 1976 original, Ejogo inhabits the character living out the nightmare of drug addiction and spousal abuse.

The rest of the movie is mostly by the numbers. It opens in 1968, a decade later than the original movie's story, with Sister and her little sister Sparkle sneaking out to a nightclub headlined by a period- costumed Cee Lo Green in a cameo appearance. Sister vamps her way through an original song by Sparkle, which attracts the attention of an aspiring record producer named Stix. He encourages them to shoot for the big time, so they convince level-headed sister Dee to make it a trio decked out sequins, wigs and false eyelashes in order to become the next Supremes. What struck me is how eerily the three women look like the original Supremes line-up with Sparks resembling Florence Ballard and Ejogo looking like a sultry cross between Diana Ross and Beyoncé. Of course, their newfound success comes with heartache, as Sister takes up with a smooth albeit vicious stand-up comic named Satin, and Sparkle struggles between family devotion and her burgeoning love for Stix.

Naturally Emma is constantly worried that her girls will repeat the same mistakes she made when she tried to make it as a singer only to be spit out by the music industry. That means Houston spends most of her limited screen time either fretting about her family or being self-righteous about her religious convictions. The dinner table scene between her and Ejogo is the movie's best scene laying bare the deep-seeded resentment Sister has for her mother and providing a flash of grief over a line that reminds you how Houston died. The melodrama is laid on pretty thick, especially during Sister's downward spiral, but director Salim Akil ("Jumping the Broom") and his wife, screenwriter Mara Brock Akil, balance it with just enough lighter moments. The songs, of course, are what matters the most, and smartly, Curtis Mayfield's original compositions have been retained with the standouts being "Hooked on Your Love", "Look into Your Heart" and especially "Something He Can Feel" which Ejogo performs with sultry conviction.

The new songs by R. Kelly are not nearly as memorable since they sound too contemporary for the period. Sadly, Houston sings only once in character, the spiritual stand-by, "His Eye Is on the Sparrow", and limited to her lower register, her coarsened voice, while emotionally impactful, is vocally a mere shadow of her once-beautiful pipes. Sparks gets to sing a lot more with a predictably booming voice, and she delivers an unaffected turn in the title role. Mike Epps gives a strong performance as Satin, and his scenes with Ejogo echo similarly volatile scenes in "What's Love Got to Do with It?" As Stix, Derek Luke does much better work than Philip-Michael Thomas in the original. Tika Sumpter provides some memorably defiant moments as Dee, the one sister who could take or leave the music. The movie runs too long at 116 minutes, but between Houston's death and Ejogo's star-making turn, it takes on a greater depth than the musical nostalgic trip it was originally designed to be.