The Tom's Guide Verdict: 'The Preacher's Wife'
Rating: ★★½ stars
Verdict: There's surely an audience for this movie, and I'm surely not it. "The Preacher's Wife" may be better made and better cast than a Hallmark Christmas movie, but the vibes are the same. Even Denzel's angelic performance, some funny moments and Whitney Houston's singing can't hide the fact that this is a fairly standard rom-com on its face, with a weirder and weirder premise the more you dive into it.
Where to watch: Buy or rent "The Preacher's Wife" from Amazon
"The Preacher's Wife" is this week's entry in my year-long Denzel Watchathon. It's the 20th of Denzel Washington's 52 feature-length films, and it might be the weirdest one I've seen yet.
On its face, this movie feels innocent. Denzel plays Dudley, an angel, sent down to answer the prayers of Pastor Henry Biggs (Courtney B. Vance). He does that, just in time for everyone to have a merry Christmas. But along the way, he gets close to the preacher's wife (hence the title), played by Whitney Houston.
Again, if you don't think about it too hard, that sounds pretty good. Interesting premise, great cast, etc. It even features an Oscar-nominated score by Hans Zimmer, and the soundtrack by Houston became the best-selling gospel album of all time. But after watching it, I couldn't help questioning the movie at nearly every turn.
If you want to watch this movie before you read on, I'm afraid I don't have a Christmas miracle coming. Like with many of Denzel's earlier films, "The Preacher's Wife" isn't currently streaming on any of the best streaming services or the best free streaming services. Instead, you'll need to buy or rent it from Amazon or the digital storefront of your choice.
The more you think about it, the weirder this movie gets
Read more Denzel Watchathon
Here are the other Denzel Washington movies I've covered so far in our Denzel Watchathon:
- "Carbon Copy" (1981)
- "A Soldier's Story" (1984)
- "Power" (1986)
- "Cry Freedom" (1987)
- "For Queen and Country" (1988)
- "The Mighty Quinn" (1989)
- "Glory" (1989)
- "Heart Condition" (1990)
- "Mo' Better Blues" (1990)
- "Mississippi Masala" (1991)
- "Ricochet" (1992)
- "Malcolm X" (1992)
- "Much Ado About Nothing" (1993)
- "The Pelican Brief" (1993)
- "Philadelphia" (1993)
- "Crimson Tide" (1995)
- "Virtuosity" (1995)
- "Devil in a Blue Dress" (1995)
- "Courage Under Fire" (1996)
As I mentioned, this Christmas romantic comedy centers around the Biggs family. Pastor Henry Biggs (Vance) and his wife, Julia (Houston). He's dealing with a decrepit church, St. Matt's (presumedly, St. Matthew's), and a greedy real estate developer named Joe (Gregory Hines), ready to swoop in and tear the place down. It's put a strain on the Biggs's marriage, and in a moment of exasperation, Henry prays for help.
Enter, Dudley (Washington), an angel sent from heaven to fix everything that ails the preacher. But Henry can't believe Dudley is really an angel, and sends him away. While Henry isn't charmed by Dudley, Julia is, and they start getting close as the angel spends more time helping her than Henry.
This is when things start to get weird in the movie, if you take the time to think about them. There's one sequence where Dudley sets up a date for Henry and Julia, but then Henry sends Dudley on the date instead. It's almost as if Henry is cuckolding himself.
At least Henry realizes his mistake when Dudley and Julia get home. He, rightfully jealous, sends Dudley away, who, admittedly, is now falling in love with Henry's wife, despite being an angel sent down from on high.
There's also a B-plot going on through all this, where a teen is arrested for armed robbery, and Henry is supposed to help him out. Henry basically just sits there as the kid is sent to jail to await trial, with Dudley even accusing him of being convinced that the kid is guilty without any evidence.
Of course, we already know there's evidence, and eventually, when Henry "looks him in the eyes" and realizes the kid is innocent, suddenly the preacher has all the evidence too. The case is shortly thereafter dismissed. The more you think about it, it's baffling, if not outright sadistic.
Verdict: This movie felt like an excuse to have Whitney Houston singing on camera
Ultimately, justice is served in "The Preacher's Wife," just like ultimately, Dudley doesn't get to know Henry's wife in the biblical sense. The end result of this movie is admittedly quite tame for a romantic comedy, especially by today's standards. It's just a really weird journey getting there, if you think about it too much. I didn't even delve into the fact that there's a way to read certain moments throughout the movie as hinting that Dudley is really Julia's grandfather.
Still, perhaps the story is a weird one because the story isn't the point. When the credits rolled on the movie, after two Whitney Houston performances back-to-back, it was clear to me that the point of this rom-com was to sell Whitney Houston records. Which it did.
So if you're someone who likes a Christmas movie, a tame rom-com or a Whitney Houston album (and that's a decent group of people, to be fair), "The Preacher's Wife" might be right up your alley. It's undeniably well made, has an incredible cast and made me laugh on several occasions. I was just left baffled by it in the end, and frankly, it's apparent that a Christmas rom-com is still not the genre of movie for me.
Buy or rent "The Preacher's Wife" from Amazon now
