Review of Sparkle (2012) by Manny C — 27 Nov 2012

Whitney Houston and her enormous talent deserved far better than this tepid, weak-sauce remake of a 1976 movie that wasn't all that great to begin with. Stories like this one were already told better in Dreamgirls, which also fictionalized the story of The Supremes into a musical.

Sparkle 2012 is all formula, no kick. Set in late 60's Detroit, Sparkle sees Houston as the doting mother of three daughters who have formed a girl group behind her back. Sister (Carmen Ejogo) is the bombshell who fronts the group (known nauseatingly as Sister and Her Sisters) and has demons to battle.

Dee (Tika Sumpter) sings backup and is ok with it since she's has goals of becoming a doctor. But Sparkle (American Idol winner Jordin Sparks in her debut), the churchy mama's girl, isn't so keen on singing back-up.

It's Sparkle who writes all the songs and it's Sparkle who has the ambitions to make it really big. Yawn. Director Salim Akil has never met a cliche he didn't like, and adds his own bit of visual clunk.

And Sparks has yet to feature any real acting chops. Her scenes of transformation are just flat. Houston remains the only redeeming feature of the whole mess. Just watch her in a church scene singing 'His Eye Is On The Sparrow'.

She fills it with all her might, her voice lined by time and struggle, but startling beautiful. Houston is the real deal in a film that's devoid of anything authentic. A heavy loss.