The Preacher's Wife

Denzel Washington (Glory, Crimson Tide) is a good actor, but there isn't much he could do about The Preacher's Wife a boring and predictable film. Denzel stars as an angel who is sent to Earth to help out the preacher, played by Courtney B. Vance (Hamburger Hill, Panther), with his church and family. Whitney Houston (The Bodyguard) plays his wife who Denzel gets a crush on. The film had some potential with Washington as an angel, but can't do anything with it. Houston is OK as the wife. Vance is a talented actor and does the best he can with a boring role. For those who are interested, my mom loved the film and owns it, so I recommend the film if you like movies such as, While You Were Sleeping and Sleepless in Seattle.

You have to wonder why some folks out in Hollywood try to remake that which was done so very well the first time. You can just see them sitting around the conference table talking about adding color and, oh, yeah, lets make the characters black! It would be OK if they really tried to do it better. But they are really just trying to cash in.

Such is the case with "The Preacher's Wife". A modernized color version of the Cary Grant vehicle, "The Bishop's Wife", the insertion of even this excellent black cast does nothing to enhance the story.

Denzel never seems to capture the sly charm of Dudley, the angel sent to help the Preacher. Now we know Denzel can be a charmer, but even he cannot deliver through this tired direction and uninspired script. Nothing really works in the movie (unless, perhaps, you never saw the original), the Preacher is not sympathetic enough, Whitney isn't at full strength as the title character, and even Gregory Hines can't seem to make the villain seem like much of a baddie.

A thorough waste of time and celluloid!

1947's "The Bishop's Wife" is a never-to-be-repeated total triumph of fantasy and heart. But that was generations ago, under different circumstances and with different attitudes (and not even one black extra on set)

Nevertheless, this was a natural as a remake with the proper tweaking. 1996 audiences would never have gone for unabashedly fantastic aspects that are so appealing and endearing in the original, so all of that's toned-down, and as that is so fundamental to the original's success, it inevitably diminishes some of the remake's sparkle.

Still, there are worthwhile additions here. The perpetual problems of police-community relations and threats of gentrification are seamlessly inserted, and the monster that threatens is no longer a monolithic Tower to Mammon, but now a Luxury Gated Community development. And you can bet the preacher's church has a lot more than the bishop's wimpy boychoir, it's got a full-throated gospel group that nearly brings the house down, literally, but stops at breaking the boiler, just when they can least afford it.

Whitney Houston plays the devoted wife, but, true to her times, she is not the resigned shrinking violet the former bishop's wife was. Without ever jeopardizing her standing as the preacher's (Courtney B Vance) wife, she has no problem voicing her positions just as loud as he does.

Denzel Washington plays the angel sent to save the pastor's marriage and he and Whitney do make a very cute couple. Of note is Jenifer Lewis, already, playing Gramma 20 years before "Black-sh " There's a cute scene of white carolers, traditionally dressed, singing outside the posh digs of the evil black real estate developer (Gregory Hines) who, in 1996, can live anywhere he can afford to, and it's definitely NOT the ghetto. Best of all there's Whitney singing gospel like she did at her home church in East Orange, NJ, although the film shoot location was actually Jersey City a couple towns away, not far. .

As a Christmas Movie for the Whole Family, it does have a Hallmarkish air about it that can sometimes be contrived and cloying, but generally a Christmas Movie families of all colors should be able to enjoy

This movie is not one that was made to make awards and reach the hierarchy of its peers. It was developed for the holiday season but it was also made quite simply to remind us that in life there must be faith. Much like the message at the end of the movie, just because you can't see air, doesn't mean its not there. Faith can be religious but in this movie, faith went much further and it would appear some failed to see this aspect.

Those who say their bored are perhaps the very people that need the message of the movie much like Ms. Houston. It speaks about love that is everlasting not only in the terms of religion but in our lives, relationships and our communities as a whole. It is very odd that anyone would not enjoy this movie. It is uplifting and funny, but most importantly if you are human it makes you take a serious look at those around you.

This updating of "The Bishop's Wife" has much going for it. The cast is just fine, the productional values are on a high level, and the over all intention commendable.

What "The Preacher's Wife" ends up being, however, is only an average family film. The essential difficulty, as I see it, is in Nat Mauldin and Allan Scott's screenplay.

Their script seems to lack a keen sense of structure, with too many highs and peaks, often via musical performances, which emerge inserted and bloated rather than integral and balanced.

The decision to provide Whitney Houston with full-scale musical numbers tends to more distort than enhance the film's focus. After some rip-rousing bring-down-the-house gospel fests, it seems like the end credits ought to start rolling . . . instead the play goes on anticlimactically.

Director Penny Marshall might have stepped in and ordered some sharp editing to tighten matters up and shape the film into an effective dramatic form. For this seems to be not a musical, but a light comedy/fantasy with a few incidental music interludes.

How wonderful to see the excellent Denzel Washington in a role and film in which he so lovingly believes. He invests his earnest effort into making this a winner, and he's most ingratiating in the part. Houston makes a nice costar, and the entire cast is delightful.

There's much to enjoy in "The Preacher's Wife," and there are some mighty pleasant humanistic expressions to savor and delight in along the way.