Movie #290 2020: Sister Act (1992)

Classic. Funny. Daring. Entertaining. That’s Sister Act.

A young(er) Whoopi Goldberg plays singer/waitress Deloris in this early-nineties movie musical. We begin the movie with a murder – not what I was expecting. Deloris witnesses the murder, due to the fact that her boyfriend is actually a mob boss. On the run, the police put her in witness protection in the one place they think no one will look: a convent. Being completely different to the other nuns in the convent, Deloris becomes interested in the choir but finds herself going head to head with Mother Superior Maggie Smith, who is highly suspicious of her being there. When the choir becomes popular, TV journalists become interested, and Deloris accidentally finds herself on full view in a news broadcast. Needless to say, the mob come running.

Whoopi Goldberg, DAME Maggie Smith, Harvey Keitel, THE CRIMINALLY UNDERRATED Kathy Najimy. Name a better cast. I’ll wait. (Shout out to Sister Alma on the keys too. What a legend.) Goldberg is truly brilliant in this, bringing her comedy roots to the forefront, and if it were anyone else, I can’t imagine Sister Act being the phenomenon that it is today. 

Should this movie really count as a “first watch” for me? Technically I’ve seen all of the musical numbers before, but I had no context whatsoever, so fuck it. To be fair, I had no idea it came with a mobster subplot, so I knew nothing of the plot whatsoever when it comes down to it. Somehow, the mixture of mafia culture and religion works so well and you can tell every cast member in this had an absolute blast filming it. It takes a while to get to the point, but once it gets there it’s simply iconic.

Every single choir/gospel piece in Sister Act is on point, I just wish there was more of them. Whilst one can appreciate there’s a lot of story to squeeze in with the whole gangster kidnapping stuff, we all came here to see the nuns, let’s face it. I guess that’s why there’s a sequel? Maybe I’ll give that a watch someday…

This movie alongside Connie & Carla would be such an incredible witness-protection-on-the-run double bill. Neither are the best movie ever created, but they’re both undeniably fun with top notch music sequences. I had a blast.

What do you think? Is Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit worth a look? Let me know!

Sister Act is available to stream in the UK on Disney+, Sky Cinema and Now TV.

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