THE PREACHER'S WIFE (G)
Director: Penny Marshall
Stars: Denzel Washington, Whitney Houston, Courtney B Vance,
Gregory Hines, Jenifer Lewis, Loretta Devine, Justin Pierre Edmund, Lionel Richie, Paul Bates
Christmas has already been and gone, leaving this perfect seasonal offering high and dry, like a left over turkey. This feel good
but moderately entertaining romantic comedy is actually a remake of the charming 1947 Cary Grant/David Niven fantasy The
Bishop's Wife, but it also throws in generous touches of those wonderful heart warming classics It's A Wonderful Life and
Miracle On 34th Street for good measure.
In his most light weight role since the laboured comedy Heart Condition, Denzel Washington plays Dudley, a charming but
unconventional looking angel who is sent back down to earth in answer to the desperate plea for help from the reverend Henry
Biggs (Courtney B Vance, recently seen in The Last Supper). Over worked and absorbed by the task of propping up his
apathetic congregation, Biggs has lost faith in the power of religion and his ability to make a difference in his parish. To make
matters worse, the church is threatened with closure as a ruthless self made millionaire land developer (Gregory Hines) wants
to demolish the entire neighbourhood and transform it into a thriving, modern urban centre. Biggs is also unaware that his
marriage is slowly falling apart as long suffering wife Julia (Whitney Houston, in her third film role) is growing frustrated by his
neglect and detachment.
In his own mysterious way, Dudley quietly works a number of miracles that heal the reverend's personal problems and
religious doubts, and also inspire those around him. The main twist here is that Dudley is an imperfect angel, and, still
unbalanced by confusion and misgivings concerning his own premature death, he finds himself attracted towards Julia's beauty
and vitality.
The Preacher's Wife is somewhat slim, unusually light weight material for director Penny Marshall (Big, Awakenings, etc), and
the pace is occasionally a tad slow. However, Marshall stretches the slender material out by including a number of musical
numbers that enable star Houston to strut the stuff for which she is famous, and, inevitably, the upbeat and rousing gospel
songs add to the film's spiritual message and uplifting mood.
Performances from the solid stars are something of a mixed bag, although Washington seems to be enjoying himself with this
light hearted change of pace, and his smouldering presence and charisma alone will be enough of a draw card for most
audiences. Houston is solid in a fairly undemanding role, and only really comes into her own during the cheesy songs that pad
out the material. Vance delivers a quite strong and fetching performance as the harried but essentially decent priest with so
many problems to solve that he has unwittingly neglected his own family. Singer Lionel Richie makes his film debut as the
owner of a night-club, while new comer Justin Pierre Edmund has an engaging and wonderfully natural scene stealing presence
as the Biggs' young son Jeremiah. Some welcome comic relief comes from Jenifer Lewis, who plays Julia's sharp tongued and
acerbic mother, and Loretta Devine as Biggs' cheerful but delightfully vague secretary.
While the original concept has undergone a major change in racial origins for the more enlightened '90's with all the major
characters played by an entirely black stars, this updated version is still suffused with curiously old fashioned attitudes and
positive values that echo the quaint morality of another more innocent and optimistic era. It is somewhat rare to see a major
Hollywood production that presents positive images of the black experience in contemporary America rather than perpetuating
the ugly and violent stereotypes that usually dominate the screen. Granted, The Preacher's Wife is mawkishly sentimental and
gloriously old fashioned, but its sincerity, warmth, unconventional sense of optimism and positive ideals about faith and
believing in oneself strongly resonate throughout the material.