Fish out of water comedies pretty much follow a predictable formula (unless you’re dealing with a masterpiece like Some Like It Hot, and then all bets are off), and there’s nothing but predictability afoot in both Sister Act films. That doesn’t stop them from being entertaining or endearing with their tuneful soundtracks and lovable characters, but one knows going in that character and music will be all the films have going for them; the plots are as old and trite as can be.
Sister Act: 2 Movie Collection (Blu-ray Combo Pack)
Directed by Emile Ardolino, Bill Duke
Studio: Touchstone
Year: 1992/1993
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 1080p AVC codec
Running Time: 100/106 minutes
Rating: PG
Audio: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 English
Subtitles: SDH, Spanish
Region: A-B-C
MSRP: $ 29.99
Release Date: June 19, 2012
Review Date: June 28, 2012
The Film
Sister Act – 3.5/5
Lounge singer Deloris Van Cartier (Whoopi Goldberg) witnesses a gangland shooting orchestrated by her boy friend Vince LaRocca (Harvey Keitel) and in order to live long enough to testify against him, she’s hidden by Lt. Eddie Souther (Bill Nunn) in a San Francisco convent run by the starchy, demanding Mother Superior (Maggie Smith). While she’s not very good at most of the things that the other sisters do, she does lend her singing talent to the choir that is badly in need of help. Within a few days, she has them rocking the church and bringing in new members who decide to revitalize the run down part of town where their church dwells. But Deloris’ major impact at the convent doesn’t go unnoticed by local media or LaRocca who sees news reports on television and now knows where to find the woman who could send him to prison.
There’s a fair amount of comedy courtesy of screenwriter Joseph Howard (a pseudonym of Paul Rudnick, Carrie Fisher, and Robert Harling, among others) as Deloris stumbles and bumbles her way through her early days at the nunnery, but when you’ve got ace comedy actors like Maggie Smith and Mary Wickes (who plays the choir’s inept leader), even mediocre lines take on a touch of magic with their pitch perfect deliveries and terrific comic timing. Director Emile Ardolino doesn’t get fancy with the camera movement once the sisters begin performing rock versions of some pop songs that have been modified to include Biblical connotations (“My God” for Mary Wells’ “My Guy,” “I Will Follow Him”), but the swinging rhythms carry the day. A late film chase through a Reno casino isn’t much fun, but the montage of community efforts to clean up the streets paired with the tune “A Touch of Love” is entertaining enough.
Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit – 2.5/5
Now a headliner in a big Las Vegas showroom, Deloris (Whoopi Goldberg) is visited by her friends Sisters Mary Patrick (Kathy Najimy), Mary Lazarus (Mary Wickes), and Mary Robert (Wendy Makkena) who are now serving as struggling teachers at a San Francisco Catholic high school that’s on the verge of going under. They beg her to don her Mary Clarence nun’s habit again and rejoin them as a music teacher in an attempt to save their school from the interference of school administrator Mr. Crisp (James Coburn) who’s trying to sell the property for a parking lot. Facing her hostile class, Deloris meets resistance at first, but as she works with her class and gets to know them personally, she realizes how much they need to focus their energies on positive things. Before long, she’s got the students and teachers eager to succeed, and her new choir is so good that she wants to enter them in the California State Choir Competition if only she can get her stubborn principal Father Maurice (Barnard Hughes) and Mr. Crisp to see things her way.
With only the returning personalities of the nuns and Whoopi Goldberg’s brand of sass as its primary assets, this sequel to the original Sister Act is pretty anemic stuff. There are borrowings from To Sir with Love and The Bells of St. Mary’s in the flimsy plot concocted by James Orr, Jim Cruickshank, and Judi Ann Mason, but there’s little fun with the stereotypically tiresome students who try Deloris’ patience early on, and even the musical numbers which range from “His Eye Is on the Sparrow” to “O Happy Day,” “Dancin’ in the Street” and the climactic roof-raising “Joyful, Joyful” seem much less buoyant and memorable than before. Bill Duke doesn’t have the sense of musicality that original Oscar-winning director Emile Ardolino brought to the first film, so the movie ends up seeming much longer than it actually is. Maggie Smith, Mary Wickes, and Kathy Najimy have much less memorable material this time around, and wonderfully expressive actors like Michael Jeter, Barnard Hughes, Robert Pastorelli, and James Coburn are given nothing worthwhile to do.
Video Quality
Both films – 4.5/5
The films are framed at their theatrical aspect ratios of 1.85:1 and are presented in 1080p using the AVC codec. Overall, the movies are very colorful and crisply presented with only an occasional soft shot thrown into the mix. Flesh tones are natural, and black levels are quite good. Contrast has been perfectly dialed in to give the movies a brand new look (despite being twenty years old). Black levels in Sister Act 2 are especially impressive though there is a spot of moiré present in it. The original film has been divided into 27 chapters and the sequel into 18 chapters.
Audio Quality
Both films – 4/5
The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 sound mixes for both movies achieve most of the surround quality from the music which predominates both pictures. It sounds nicely placed throughout the front and rear channels and makes all of the musical numbers immersively entertaining. Dialogue has been well recorded and resides completely in the center channel. There is less use of the surround channels for ambient noises though there is some use of those channels for ambient casino noises in the first film or clapping along and applause at the choir competition in the second film.
[Reviewer's note: The audio for the menu on the Blu-ray disc is presented at much louder volume levels than the audio of the films themselves. Caution is urged when loading this disc into your player.]
Special Features
2/5
“Inside Sister Act” is a 12 ½-minute behind-the-scenes look at the making of the movie with brief interviews featuring director Emile Ardolino and stars Whoopi Goldberg, Kathy Najimy, Mary Wickes, Wendy Makkena, and Bill Nunn. It’s in 480i.
“If My Sister’s in Trouble” music video is performed by Lady Soul with assists from Kathy Najimy, Wendy Makkena, and Mary Wickes. It runs 4 minutes in 480i.
There are promo trailers for The Odd Life of Timothy Green and Castle: Season Four.
The Blu-ray disc contains both films and the above special features.
The second and third discs in the set contain the DVD editions of both movies on separate discs.
In Conclusion
3/5 (not an average)
The Sister Act films are fondly remembered but only the first one is really a memorable comedy. The Blu-ray editions of both, however, are beautifully presented high definition versions of the movies which don’t appear to have aged a bit. The few bonus features for the first film are here but nothing new has been added for this release.
Matt Hough
Charlotte, NC
