The story, the plot, the drama, or the comedy, is nothing particularly important and deep. But the music is great, this full new generation of Gospel singing that finds its reviving inspiration in hip hop, rock, and all kinds of other new developments, particularly the black musicians of the USA, urban or not, that want to take real life as their inspiration, real life of the younger generations and dedicate their vision to some religious dream and hope.That's probably what this film is best about: it really puts religion back in its place in society and that place is to procure joy and even happiness to people and not the sour ethics of an old fake widow who hides her having been abandoned by her husband behind the front cover of the Bible. This film is probably optimistic about the depth of this religious feeling among the younger generations, but it is not entirely false: these younger generations are looking for some spirituality, even in the most secular countries who, like the secular sectarian France, forbid religious discourse and culture in their schools and public institutions, including the kipa or skullcap for the Jews, the head scarf for Moslem women, and only tolerate religious pins if they are smaller than one inch. Here in this film they work a revival of a southern Baptist church choir that manages to find the real force of joy and gaiety in being together with others and share some communion with a divine dimension in this life. Not the communion of the commandments but the communion of the heart and empathy, soul and mind.The film though, as for the plot and tempo, is slightly too slow at times, too nonchalant. A slightly tighter treatment would have improved it tremendously. But the music is first and foremost.Dr Jacques COULARDEAU

Advertising executive Darrin Hill comes back to Monte Carlo, Georgia, his home town, after things got a bit tough for him back in Manhattan. When he aunt Sally dies, she left a strange request in her will. She wants Darrin to lead the church choir. By doing so, he shall inherit the sum of $150,000, something that is music to his ears.Unfortunately, things do not go according to plan. To begin with, the new members he recruits have no particular talent to make them shine. Then, there is a regional competition of choirs which will bring prestige to the town. Darrin ultimately gets lucky when he gets Lilly, his childhood sweetheart to become a part of the singing group. Darrin runs against a spiteful Pauline, who wants him out of the church and out of town.Jonathan Lynn the man that gave us "My Cousin Vinnie" and "Nuns on the Run" knows a thing, or two, how to endear his subjects to an audience, as he does here. He was lucky to have the kinetic Cuba Gooding Jr. to play Darrin. Mr. Gooding has a charming aura about him in most of the comedies in which he has played and does a fine job in the film. To Mr. Lynn's credit he uses a singing sensation like Beyonce Knowles without bending to let her do some of her material, concentrating in the gospel songs. Latanya Richardson has some good moments and the supporting cast makes a valuable contribution to the success of the film.

Not one of his absolute best but a nice one. I would have to say that the church plays a great part of black culture and this is more of a movie with Christian themes as opposed to a Christian movie. WIth that said, this is a nice movie and while I think the 'bootyologist' scene was a bit much, it is in fact a bit Seinfeldian but it is a convo I think that is tailored for blacks. I would also say that this is a movie that is with a tradition of going to the hometown in order to recover a bit of yourself you lost in the city and a lost love you always wanted as in the case of Darrin and Lily who wanted to marry Michael Jackson but ended up with Darrin at the end was a pretty nice tie in. This is not a preachy movie while keeping up some Christian themes and the soundtrack is amazing as well. I would recommend it to anyone who like Gospel as well as a cute film, I would be a little hesitant to say it's a chick flick, but it would be considered one though it is from a man's point of view.

This movie is a very sloppy one. The story is filled with some unlikely events and characters and the directing and especially editing is seriously flawed mostly. Still thanks to its music, this movie still has some entertainment value and also somewhat still works as a 'feel good movie'.Perhaps the biggest problem with the movie is that the comedy and drama elements of the movie are not balanced out very well. At times the movie can't seem to decide whether it wants to be a comedy or a drama. A result of this is that most of the comedy feels out of place and seriously mistimed. The movie becomes never funny to watch because of this but the warm feel good atmosphere of the movie still somewhat compensates for this.Cuba Gooding Jr. seriously needs to start looking for another agent. I mean this is an Oscar winning actor but yet he appears in movies like "Chill Factor", "Pearl Harbor" and "Boat Trip"? I mean, what's up with that? He deserves to play better roles in better movies. This movie is also one of those movies in which he feels out of place. I know he can play comical roles well but in this movie he just never gets enough opportunity to show this. As a matter of fact, none of the characters in the movie work out or feel deep enough. The movie seems to concentrate more (and too much) on its music than on its characters and story in general. I seriously don't think that Beyoncé Knowles is a bad actress but just like Cuba, her role isn't significant- and present enough in the movie. Rue McClanahan also somehow got mixed up in this mess.At times it just totally feels like entire sequences in the movie are missing. Lots of moments in the movie feel rushed and are not satisfying enough. The movie is a real sloppy job. You can't just blame the script for this but also the filmmakers involved. Yes, it's a real mess of a movie at times, that too often takes the easy simple road.But yet the movie still works good thanks to its music. It makes the movie very pleasant to watch and therefor the movie still works good as a simple feel good movie. But that obviously doesn't mean that the movie itself is also a good one. The movie is too flawed in its story and way of film-making to consider this movie a good or totally recommendable one.There still is enough to enjoy in this movie but the sloppy way of film-making and storytelling don't make this movie really a recommendable one. Perhaps this movie is a typical case of 'watch at your own risk'...chances are you might end up loving- or totally hating it.5/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/