The Preacher’s Wife

Review: A 1996 remake of ‘The Bishop’s Wife,’ which I reviewed yesterday, this film does a great job of placing the story of the original film into (what was at the time) a modern setting. The film isn’t necessarily timeless, but it has a nice nostalgic kick to it. I personally preferred the original, but I think if you’re not a fan of old films, you should watch and enjoy this film instead. I think the main reason I didn’t like this film as much would be Courtney B. Vance’s character opposed to David Niven’s. Vance’s performances worked really well for the film, but while Niven’s character was a little more neurotic & funny, I felt like Vance’s was just mean at times. I understand that the point of the film is all the stress of his life weighing on him causes him to not be himself, but it just made him unlikable at times.

High: There were many highs that I enjoyed about this film. One of the changes from the first film that I quite liked was having Jeremiah, the son of the main couple, remember the whole thing. My main gripe with the first was that I personally didn’t like everyone forgetting what had happened, but I understood it narratively. So this change was welcome. However, that’s not my high. One of my main takeaways from the first film was that Cary Grant is EXTREMELY charismatic & charming as Dudley. I imagine that was one of the hardest parts of a remake was finding an actor to recapture that. And in comes Denzel. Sheesh. I don’t think it’s a secret to anyone that Denzel is one of the greatest actors ever, point blank period. This role was a little different than his role that I’m familiar with though, because he got to be silly & goofy. I’d say he not only recaptured the magic Grant brought, but perhaps even exceeded it.

Low: This sounds dumb. But my low is that Whitney Houston is such a good singer. I’m sitting here watching this movie & thinking to myself, no way could someone with that good of a voice not be a famous singer. Even in a movie. That is the most unrealistic part of this film to me.

Rating: 8/10