A friend of mine and I were watching this movie together so she and I could both confirm how awkward a lot of the scenes were. We started the movie with a positive attitude and couldn't wait to see how Latifah and Dolly handled together. The beginning started out OK but got awkward fast. Spoilers start here.
The funeral didn't feel like anyone had a strong attachment to the chorus lead and was tossed away quickly once a new one was appointed. Then the random one night stand between the two choir members and him dying felt pointless and unnecessary. There wasn't a feel of remorse or care for the people in the church. We felt sympathetic to more and more of the shops closing but didn't see where the church winning at regionals would solve the problem. The relationship between Latifah's daughter and Dolly's grandson was also awkward and their actions didn't feel appropriate. Not as in adult but their attitudes didn't come off as natural. The only character we felt a connection to was Latifah's son who was quirky and adorable. Otherwise the plot and characters were very weak. Time after time we turned to each other in discomfort from all the awkward scenes the movie felt was necessary to move the "plot" along. I'm glad we didn't go see this movie in theaters like we wanted because it would have been a waste of money and chances are we would have walked out. The "fight" scene we had looked forward to was sort of funny but was extremely fake so it fell short of expectations. Eventually we decided to skip to the musical scenes because that's really the only reason to watch this. Latifah sings beautifully and Dolly didn't disappoint but the director needs to examine their mistakes because this was not a good movie. The choreography was also very laughable in a bad way. We even predicted the choir was going to pull a "Sister Act 2" by pulling off their robes and singing an updated song in order to survive. It made us want to turn off the movie and watch Sister Act instead since that actually was well done music and character wise. Can't really compare the two. All in all if you're bored and nothing is on t.v then by all means watch this film. It was a big disappointment and I'm surprised by the reviews who were way more generous than needed. Normally I'm not very critical and do like dumb movies but this is one I don't really want to see again, even for just the music.
The funeral didn't feel like anyone had a strong attachment to the chorus lead and was tossed away quickly once a new one was appointed. Then the random one night stand between the two choir members and him dying felt pointless and unnecessary. There wasn't a feel of remorse or care for the people in the church. We felt sympathetic to more and more of the shops closing but didn't see where the church winning at regionals would solve the problem. The relationship between Latifah's daughter and Dolly's grandson was also awkward and their actions didn't feel appropriate. Not as in adult but their attitudes didn't come off as natural. The only character we felt a connection to was Latifah's son who was quirky and adorable. Otherwise the plot and characters were very weak. Time after time we turned to each other in discomfort from all the awkward scenes the movie felt was necessary to move the "plot" along. I'm glad we didn't go see this movie in theaters like we wanted because it would have been a waste of money and chances are we would have walked out. The "fight" scene we had looked forward to was sort of funny but was extremely fake so it fell short of expectations. Eventually we decided to skip to the musical scenes because that's really the only reason to watch this. Latifah sings beautifully and Dolly didn't disappoint but the director needs to examine their mistakes because this was not a good movie. The choreography was also very laughable in a bad way. We even predicted the choir was going to pull a "Sister Act 2" by pulling off their robes and singing an updated song in order to survive. It made us want to turn off the movie and watch Sister Act instead since that actually was well done music and character wise. Can't really compare the two. All in all if you're bored and nothing is on t.v then by all means watch this film. It was a big disappointment and I'm surprised by the reviews who were way more generous than needed. Normally I'm not very critical and do like dumb movies but this is one I don't really want to see again, even for just the music.