The Gospel

The over-driven music of "The Gospel" has none of the brilliant luster of The Fairfield Four. Besides which, the filmmakers seem to still be working out leftover questions from film school. Cloudy lens work barely filters an under-cooked story about the singing son of a minister who abandons the church, after his mother's death, in favor of the life of a "superstar" R&B singer. Boris Kodjoe plays an egotistical singer who rediscovers Gospel music and the false optimism that goes along with a Baptist chest-beating, back-slapping, gossip-crazed community in his home of Atlanta. "The Gospel" is a cliché-filled movie with low production values that says nothing significant about gospel music or its core values.      
Rated PG. 103 mins. (D) (One Star)