Houston Hits High Note With 'Preacher's Wife'

Date: December 12, 1996
By Malcolm L. Johnson, Film Critic

From Hartford Courant (Connecticut)
Submitted by: Larry A.


Whitney Houston arrives as a major film star in Friday's "The Preacher's Wife," and this holiday season is beginning to look a lot like the age of the diva on screen.

Houston, previously seen as a pop queen in "The Bodyguard" and as one of four "sisters" in "Waiting To Exhale," shapes a more assured and less self- conscious performance in her third film. She brings both poignancy and glamour to the title role of the romantic comedy remake, which features Courtney Vance as an urban minister and Denzel Washington as an angel sent to help the beleaguered parish. And her gospel belting shakes the multiplex.

Houston thus joins a holiday trio that includes actress-auteur Barbra Streisand as an ugly duckling in "The Mirror Has Two Faces" and the protean material girl-turned-mom, Madonna, in the forthcoming "Evita." Also enjoying new success in 1996 is another high-powered singer-turned-actress, Bette Midler, in "First Wives Club." Never before have so many major pop recording stars shimmered on the silver screen. Maybe it's time to bring back Dolly Parton and Diana Ross.