The movie Sparkle is enjoyable. Out of respect I want to say it’s great, remarkable, and splendid. But I honestly have to say it’s just fair, decent, and average. Above and beyond that, it is a wonderful tribute to the beloved star Whitney Houston. This film is a remake of Sparkle (1976) starring Irene Cara and was a pet project for executive producer Houston that took thirteen years to come to fruition. The heavily anticipated film is set in the late 1960s. Fans of Houston will be pleased to see her this last time in such a moving, heartfelt, and, not to mention, bitter-sweet depiction.
The storyline is set with three sisters trying to make it big as a somewhat Supreme-type girl group based out of Detroit. Those of us Detroiters will thoroughly enjoy the familiar locations such as: LafayetteConey Island, Motown, and Woodward Avenue. Jordin Sparks plays the group’s back-up singer, appropriately named Sparkle. She is beautiful, eloquent, and very likeable. Her love interest, Stix (Derek Luke), is only so so. He played the manager of the group, and I never really experienced the chemistry between the two actors that would have made the film more meaningful. Lead singer Sister (Carmen Ejogo) was extremely sexy and played her role perfectly. You liked her, hated her, and pitied her nearly all at the same time. Having two love interests, Satin (Mike Epps), who plays the villain in this film, and Levi (Omari Hardwick), the hardworking guy who’s head over heels in love with her, Ejogo portrayed her character with finesse and truly went full circle looking utterly stunning, to completely ghastly?
The story progresses quickly with the group heading for a Columbia record contract when tragedy strikes them with Sister being abused, and turning to drugs. Sparkle struggles with her confidence to go out on her own as a singer/songwriter. Will she finally come to believe in herself and cast her fears aside? Well, what do you think?
Whitney Houston and Jordin Sparks in “Sparkle.” Photo by Alicia Gbur – © 2012 Stage 6 Films, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
But let’s take a moment to talk about Whitney Houston. She plays the part of Emma, mother to the three sisters. She was a failed singer and has become a very strict, divorced mother. Not wanting her daughters to follow in her footsteps, Emma becomes a very hard, rigid parent with very high expectations of her children. Even though she knows her daughters are very talented singers she wants them to have nothing to do with the industry. At times it was hard for me to decide if Houston was playing her role well as a very tired, angry, and bitter woman that has been through the ringer of life, or if she was just grasping onto her own painful misfortunes. Much of the time, you could see how tired and sad she appeared, with the exception of a scene when she sang at her church. A scene that is, in a word, amazing! She sang, “His Eye Is On The Sparrow” and it was as if the relationship she had with God was offered for all the viewers to experience. The majority of the audience including myself was brought to tears. For me it was one of the most moving film experiences to date.
In closing, the music is fabulous, especially so for Motown music fans. Honorable mention goes certainly to Cee-Lo and Aretha Franklin. Costume design was truly spot-on for the late 1960s look and making me want to get my go-go boots on and start walking. Love and miss those clothes! All and all Sparkle is pretty good (mainly because of our love for the late Whitney Houston), but for me sadly, it was not great.
Betsy Cizek
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