Edmund, Justin Pierre

The Preacher's Wife

This tedious remake of the classic Christmas movie The Bishop's Wife falls on its face by significantly altering the careful design of Pulitzer Prize-winning author Robert E. Sherwood's story for the original film. In Sherwood's version, a rather wooden, inept bishop and his lonely wife unknowingly take into their lives a heaven-sent angel who aids the former and ends up falling in love with the latter. In this unnecessary update, an inner-city preacher (Courtney B. Vance) and his estranged spouse (Whitney Houston) are visited by a celestial goof (Denzel Washington), whose unsolicited offer of help is enough to galvanize Vance's character to fix his own problems. What that means is this: by the second act, there's no reason to have Washington's angel in the story. Even his infatuation with the missus isn't enough to warrant his hanging around this movie; the change is a colossal blunder by director Penny Marshall. Vance ends up stealing the film from Washington, but it's a Pyrrhic victory; for the most part this movie just seems like a series of random scenes between opportunities for Houston to belt out songs. --Tom Keogh

Starring Academy Award(R)-winner Denzel Washington (Best Actor, TRAINING DAY, 2001; Best Supporting Actor, GLORY, 1989; REMEMBER THE TITANS, THE HURRICANE) and multi-talented Whitney Houston (THE BODYGUARD, WAITING TO EXHALE), here's a delightful romantic comedy to send spirits soaring! Washington plays a charming angel named Dudley who's sent to earth to help a young minister (Courtney B. Vance -- DANGEROUS MINDS) and his beautiful wife (Houston) revive their marriage! But things take a hilarious twist when Dudley accidentally falls in love with the preacher's wife. From director Penny Marshall (RIDING IN CARS WITH BOYS, A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN) and featuring screen favorite Gregory Hines (RENAISSANCE MAN), this critically acclaimed comedy hit also showcases nine dynamic songs by Grammy Award(R) winner Houston, including the Top 10 hit "I Believe In You And Me."

Once in the Life

Laurence Fishburne established himself as one of the most compelling actors making films today with simmering performances that command the screen. With Once in the Life, a tale of small-time crooks on the run from a heist gone wrong, he adds screenwriter and director to his resumé. Adapted by the director from his stage play Riff Raff, he makes himself a triple threat as he also stars as 20/20 Mike, a small-time street hustler who cooks up a drug rip-off with his estranged half-brother Torch (Titus Welliver, reprising his stage role). When simple robbery turns into a fatal bloodbath they hide out in a claustrophobic rat hole and wait for Mike's buddy Tony the Tiger (the intense Eamonn Walker of HBO's cable series Oz). Tony is "out of the life," or so he says. Mike is too trusting to remember the truism that gives the film its title: "Once in the life, always in the life."

The heart of the film remains with these three in the dark, dingy hideout. We've seen this portrait of family, friends, and honor torn asunder by the criminal life before, and the overly talky picture never shakes its insular theatrical origins, but Fishburne pulls out some beautiful performances, especially his own mercurial turn as Mike. He delivers a fierce and exhilarating performance, and Walker burns as his trusted former cellmate, his glowing eyes and glowering expression giving his tortured struggle a tragic dimension. --Sean Axmaker

Loving Jezebel

Once in the Life

Laurence Fishburne established himself as one of the most compelling actors making films today with simmering performances that command the screen. With Once in the Life, a tale of small-time crooks on the run from a heist gone wrong, he adds screenwriter and director to his resumé. Adapted by the director from his stage play Riff Raff, he makes himself a triple threat as he also stars as 20/20 Mike, a small-time street hustler who cooks up a drug rip-off with his estranged half-brother Torch (Titus Welliver, reprising his stage role). When simple robbery turns into a fatal bloodbath they hide out in a claustrophobic rat hole and wait for Mike's buddy Tony the Tiger (the intense Eamonn Walker of HBO's cable series Oz). Tony is "out of the life," or so he says. Mike is too trusting to remember the truism that gives the film its title: "Once in the life, always in the life."

The heart of the film remains with these three in the dark, dingy hideout. We've seen this portrait of family, friends, and honor torn asunder by the criminal life before, and the overly talky picture never shakes its insular theatrical origins, but Fishburne pulls out some beautiful performances, especially his own mercurial turn as Mike. He delivers a fierce and exhilarating performance, and Walker burns as his trusted former cellmate, his glowing eyes and glowering expression giving his tortured struggle a tragic dimension. --Sean Axmaker

The Preacher's Wife [Region 2]

This tedious remake of the classic Christmas movie The Bishop's Wife falls on its face by significantly altering the careful design of Pulitzer Prize-winning author Robert E. Sherwood's story for the original film. In Sherwood's version, a rather wooden, inept bishop and his lonely wife unknowingly take into their lives a heaven-sent angel who aids the former and ends up falling in love with the latter. In this unnecessary update, an inner-city preacher (Courtney B. Vance) and his estranged spouse (Whitney Houston) are visited by a celestial goof (Denzel Washington), whose unsolicited offer of help is enough to galvanize Vance's character to fix his own problems. What that means is this: by the second act, there's no reason to have Washington's angel in the story. Even his infatuation with the missus isn't enough to warrant his hanging around this movie; the change is a colossal blunder by director Penny Marshall. Vance ends up stealing the film from Washington, but it's a Pyrrhic victory; for the most part this movie just seems like a series of random scenes between opportunities for Houston to belt out songs. --Tom Keogh

The Preacher's Wife [Region 2]

This tedious remake of the classic Christmas movie The Bishop's Wife falls on its face by significantly altering the careful design of Pulitzer Prize-winning author Robert E. Sherwood's story for the original film. In Sherwood's version, a rather wooden, inept bishop and his lonely wife unknowingly take into their lives a heaven-sent angel who aids the former and ends up falling in love with the latter. In this unnecessary update, an inner-city preacher (Courtney B. Vance) and his estranged spouse (Whitney Houston) are visited by a celestial goof (Denzel Washington), whose unsolicited offer of help is enough to galvanize Vance's character to fix his own problems. What that means is this: by the second act, there's no reason to have Washington's angel in the story. Even his infatuation with the missus isn't enough to warrant his hanging around this movie; the change is a colossal blunder by director Penny Marshall. Vance ends up stealing the film from Washington, but it's a Pyrrhic victory; for the most part this movie just seems like a series of random scenes between opportunities for Houston to belt out songs. --Tom Keogh

The Preacher's Wife [Region 2]

This tedious remake of the classic Christmas movie The Bishop's Wife falls on its face by significantly altering the careful design of Pulitzer Prize-winning author Robert E. Sherwood's story for the original film. In Sherwood's version, a rather wooden, inept bishop and his lonely wife unknowingly take into their lives a heaven-sent angel who aids the former and ends up falling in love with the latter. In this unnecessary update, an inner-city preacher (Courtney B. Vance) and his estranged spouse (Whitney Houston) are visited by a celestial goof (Denzel Washington), whose unsolicited offer of help is enough to galvanize Vance's character to fix his own problems. What that means is this: by the second act, there's no reason to have Washington's angel in the story. Even his infatuation with the missus isn't enough to warrant his hanging around this movie; the change is a colossal blunder by director Penny Marshall. Vance ends up stealing the film from Washington, but it's a Pyrrhic victory; for the most part this movie just seems like a series of random scenes between opportunities for Houston to belt out songs. --Tom Keogh