Sparkle Review

Sparkle is a new old-fashioned melodrama about a trio of Detroit-area Motown singers living in 1968. It contains very little in the way of originality. The singers, sisters, begin as nobodies, break into the local soul scene, get mixed up in the seedier side of the business, take stock of their lives, and return triumphant. It’s been done. But the movie is well-cast, with Jordin “I won a singing competition once” Sparks in the title role, and well-directed, with a lush look and solid pacing.

Every once in a while, a producer will get take a stab at re-popularizing the long-dormant movie musical genre. The last notable attempt was Rock of Ages, a jukebox musical which featured covers of 80s rock songs scrubbed free of the grit that might have made them interesting. Sparkle isn’t a great musical, but it fares much better than that middling piece of insubstantia. It features old songs from the 1976 movie on which it’s based, a few Motown standards of the day, and new songs written by R. Kelly. It’s good stuff, and it’s sung well by a cast of people who either are or at one point were professional musicians. When the story sags, audiences can always sit back and enjoy the music.

And despite the best efforts of all involved, the story does sag. Sparkle, a burgeoning songwriter, lives at home under the command of her strict, church-going mother (Whitney Houston), who disapproves of the music business. Her older sister, who depending on your point of view is either confusingly or endearingly named Sister (Carmen Ejogo), is a burned-out vixen with a sexy stage presence. She fronts the group and helps lead it to success, but her vices eventually catch up with her, and the group suffers.

There’s also a sweet romance between Sparkle and a young band manager (Derek Luke) as well as a background role for the practically minded middle sister, Dee (Tika Sumpter). So the story has a fair amount of meat on its bones, but it rarely feels anything more than superficial. The script relies too much on expository dialogue to develop the characters, and the plot twists are predictable to anyone who’s seen a movie about the rise and fall of a band, sports figure, politician, or pretty much anyone else for whom the road to success is riddled with pot holes. All these clichés go down easy thanks to the energetic cast and some visually nifty direction, but they’re still clichés and the movie doesn’t find enough ways to make them feel new again.

As Sparkle’s mother, Whitney Housten gives a performance as intermittently dull and wonderful as the movie itself. This is the last film the famous singer made before her well-publicized death earlier this year, and although it doesn’t trade on that notoriety it’s hard not to think about it when watching. Her performance is nothing spectacular. She mostly just imitates other over-protective mothers from movies past, but there’s one scene where she sings a hymn in church and we get a glimpse of the complex character, and storied actress, underneath.

Luckily, director Salim Akil knows that the movie’s greatest strength lies in its music, and he steers it back in that direction whenever possible. Even the songs played over the montages are good. He also has a fine sense of timing. For most of the film, Sparkle sings backup while the sultry, charismatic Sister takes lead, but when it comes time for Sparkle to strike out on her own, her solo debut is worth the wait and closes the film on its highest note. The movie may be made out of showbiz movie clichés, but they’re marshaled by a director who knows how to get the most out of them and played by actors committed to their roles. Sparkle is a simple song, but a decent one.