The Fighting Temptations (2003)

Well Deserved Praise

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

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

This film was good in someways and bad in some ways. The concept was good but it was basically copying Sister Act 2. The good thing about the film was the singing and music. Without out that the film would have been rubbish. I have watched the film many times but the only reason is because of the singing. I think that this film was a great chance for Beyonce Knowles to show off her acting skills. Her performance was excellent. I really like the film because it may be a film that the concept has been copied from another but the acting was good and I think that was what made it good and because the film had a bit of comedy in it.

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/

Cuba Gooding Jr., purveyor of truly awful films such as "Boat Trip", "Snow Dogs" and "Chill Factor", has reached new depths with his latest offering, "The Fighting Temptations". He has now officially squandered any last remnants of goodwill he had left from his Oscar win for "Jerry Maguire" (his good movie) in 1997.I caught this film on an airplane flight from NY to LA, and let me tell you...even then I felt like I had wasted my time! Because I could have stared straight ahead at the seat in front of me and been more entertained! Other reviewers are defending this movie by talking about how great the music is. Fine, buy the soundtrack but whatever you do...DON'T SEE THIS MOVIE! Good music does not a good movie make! Go see Blues Brothers, which is a superior movie, plus has Gospel music sung by James Brown! Who, in case you were wondering, makes Beyonce Knowles look like...well, Beyonce Knowles! The acting in Temptations is beyond awful all around (Beyonce, we hardly knew ye) the insipid plot is embarrassingly predictable (guess who wins the gospel competition at the end of the film) and this movie has the distinction of having perhaps the fakest corporate meeting in the history of phony movie corporate meetings.Are we supposed to care about any of these characters? Gooding's character is a habitual liar that fakes his resume, leads a gospel choir because he wants his aunt's inheritance, and shamelessly hits on Beyonce Knowles. And we're supposed to care about him because...? But if you aren't looking for things such as plot, good acting or a well-written script, then by all means buy this DVD and put it on your shelf next to "Gigli", "Battlefield Earth", "From Justin to Kelly", and "Glitter", other films you must surely own.