An angel comes to Earth to help a preacher save his church and his family.An angel comes to Earth to help a preacher save his church and his family.An angel comes to Earth to help a preacher save his church and his family.
- Nominated for 1 Oscar
- 4 wins & 7 nominations total
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaIn 2009, Whitney Houston revealed on The Oprah Winfrey Show (1986) that by the time The Preacher's Wife (1996) started shooting, her cocaine and marijuana habits had gotten so bad that there was never a day while filming the movie on which she had not done some drugs.
- Quotes
Jeremiah Biggs: Just because you can't see the air doesn't keep you from breathing. And just because you can't see God doesn't keep you from believing.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Siskel & Ebert: Jerry Maguire/Daylight/Everyone Says I Love You (1996)
- SoundtracksI Believe In You And Me
(main theme from The Preacher's Wife)
Written by David Wolfert and Sandy Linzer
Performed by Whitney Houston
Courtesy by Arista Records
Featured review
This updating of "The Bishop's Wife" has much going for it. The cast is just fine, the productional values are on a high level, and the over all intention commendable.
What "The Preacher's Wife" ends up being, however, is only an average family film. The essential difficulty, as I see it, is in Nat Mauldin and Allan Scott's screenplay.
Their script seems to lack a keen sense of structure, with too many highs and peaks, often via musical performances, which emerge inserted and bloated rather than integral and balanced.
The decision to provide Whitney Houston with full-scale musical numbers tends to more distort than enhance the film's focus. After some rip-rousing bring-down-the-house gospel fests, it seems like the end credits ought to start rolling . . . instead the play goes on anticlimactically.
Director Penny Marshall might have stepped in and ordered some sharp editing to tighten matters up and shape the film into an effective dramatic form. For this seems to be not a musical, but a light comedy/fantasy with a few incidental music interludes.
How wonderful to see the excellent Denzel Washington in a role and film in which he so lovingly believes. He invests his earnest effort into making this a winner, and he's most ingratiating in the part. Houston makes a nice costar, and the entire cast is delightful.
There's much to enjoy in "The Preacher's Wife," and there are some mighty pleasant humanistic expressions to savor and delight in along the way.
What "The Preacher's Wife" ends up being, however, is only an average family film. The essential difficulty, as I see it, is in Nat Mauldin and Allan Scott's screenplay.
Their script seems to lack a keen sense of structure, with too many highs and peaks, often via musical performances, which emerge inserted and bloated rather than integral and balanced.
The decision to provide Whitney Houston with full-scale musical numbers tends to more distort than enhance the film's focus. After some rip-rousing bring-down-the-house gospel fests, it seems like the end credits ought to start rolling . . . instead the play goes on anticlimactically.
Director Penny Marshall might have stepped in and ordered some sharp editing to tighten matters up and shape the film into an effective dramatic form. For this seems to be not a musical, but a light comedy/fantasy with a few incidental music interludes.
How wonderful to see the excellent Denzel Washington in a role and film in which he so lovingly believes. He invests his earnest effort into making this a winner, and he's most ingratiating in the part. Houston makes a nice costar, and the entire cast is delightful.
There's much to enjoy in "The Preacher's Wife," and there are some mighty pleasant humanistic expressions to savor and delight in along the way.
- How long is The Preacher's Wife?Powered by Alexa
Details
Box office
- Budget
- $40,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $48,102,795
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $7,649,752
- Dec 15, 1996
- Gross worldwide
- $48,102,795
- Runtime2 hours 3 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1
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