By Tanya Batson-Savage, Staff Reporter
(Front centre with back toward camera) Cuba Gooding, Jr. as Darrin Hill (on-stage, left to right) Mae Middleton as Tasha, Melba Moore as Bessie Cooley, Chris Cole as Lightfoot, Zane Copeland, Jr. as Derek, Beyoncé Knowles as Lilly, Rue McClanahan as Nancy Stringer, Montel Jordan as Johnson, 'T-Bone' as Bee-Z Briggs, Angie Stone as Alma and Mitchah Williams as Jimmy B in 'The Fighting Temptations'. - Contributed
ALTHOUGH THE Fighting Temptations is a far cry from a hilarious movie, it is a great improvement for Cuba Gooding Jr. In light of his recent flicks, The Fighting Temptations comes as a relief. With Snow Dogs and then Boat Trip (which was an absolute blight on movie history) Gooding Jr. seemed to have been sliding down the slippery slope to has-been hell.
It seemed that he was deliberately picking bad scripts to see from how low he could climb. Maybe he thought that if John Travolta could make a successful comeback, well any good actor could (I guess he forgot to read the Eddie Murphy handbook).
Either that, or Gooding had simply sent his mind for a walk and it had refused to return. If that were the case, apparently somebody has finally responded to the 'mind lost' poster and brought back at least a portion to him. His upcoming flick Radio will truly declare whether the Cuba Gooding Jr. of Men of Honour, A Murder of Crows, Jerry McGuire and Boys in the Hood has finally resurfaced.
GOODING'S RÉSUMÉ
Despite its being better than his last two movies, The Fighting Temptations is still no credit to Gooding's résumé, and he continues with the streak of hamming that was brought forward in Rat Race and Snow Dogs.
Beyoncé Knowles gives a performance which often flirts with being called weak. Fortunately, no real acting prowess was required for her to pull off the role, which is good, because her performance showed that she had none to give.
Interestingly, though most of her music career seems to be bent on the J.Lo brand of marketing (all gluteus maximus and voice second) The Fighting Temptations down plays her maximus, and allows her voice to come through.
Steve Harvey has a relatively small role in this flick but he is a very welcome addition. He plays a small town radio announcer who needs his flask of white rum as much as his headphones and microphone. He brought some much-needed hilarity to this often lacklustre flick. Mike Epps also brought varying levels of comedic talent to the flick. Fortunately, since Epps is better had in small doses, his scenes were rather short and sometimes managed to be funny.
However, though Gooding and Knowles are the ones you see on the poster, from the start of The Fighting Temptations it is clear that the film is about music more than anything else. If you happened to miss the credits to see who would be featured in this flick, the extended choir scene that begins the movie should be enough to clue you in.
POTPOURRI OF SINGERS
Shirley Caesar, Melba Moore, Lil Zane, T-Bone, Faith Evans, Angie Stone and Montel Jordon are all featured in this flick.
The creators of The Fighting Temptations simply gathered up a potpourri of singers from all genres and then asked writers Hilary Parkinson and Saladin Patterson to come up with the simplest possible scenario in which they could all be given a reason to sing. Hence the Beulah Baptist Choir is created.
Much of this plot appears to be like a dramatisation of a comic view special on funerals and choirs. With every joke there, the church fainter, the person who cries too much at the funeral, the essence is that there is not much to sing about in this movie, but a few laughs can be had.
