Dolores's real passion is medical school, and she keeps one foot out the door. The film is tightly edited and nicely acted, and Akil hits the highlights as the Anderson sisters face a number of conflicts. The perils of stardom and the struggle to make it big have been filmed a hundred times over, but Sparkle is no less entertaining because of its oft-utilized dramatic structure. Houston, who died in February 2012 after filming wrapped, instead plays the world-weary Emma, a character whose struggles mirror Houston's turbulent life. Chase says the timing was perfect for Houston, who was the wrong age to play Sister or Emma in the '90s. The project sat in limbo until 2011, when Jumping the Broom director Akil signed on to steer the project. When Houston and Chase first secured the film rights for this remake in the '90s, Houston was set to play Sister alongside the late R&B singer Aaliyah. Sparkle looks to its predecessor for inspiration, but works to improve on the original, which isn't exactly a critically praised film.
Trouble soon arrives in the form of a wily comedian, Satin Struthers (Mike Epps), who closes in on Sister and claims to have powerful record-industry connections. The girls fear upsetting Emma, who has expressly forbidden them from following her path into the dark temptations of stardom, but decide to go forward with the plan. Stix urges Sparkle to recruit her other sister, Dolores (Tika Sumpter), to join her and Sister on stage as a three-woman group. The girls hurry home to avoid the wrath of their uptight mother Emma (Houston), who found religion after years of singing and substance abuse. Stix praises Sister's powerful voice, and is surprised to learn that Sparkle wrote Sister's material. Sisters Sparkle (Sparks) and Tammy "Sister" Anderson (Ejogo) meet aspiring talent scout Stix (Derek Luke) while moonlighting at a nightclub.
Sparkle feels familiar, but Director Salim Akil and his cast breathe new life into the dramatic material. Jordin Sparks and Carmen Ejogo are solid group leaders, and Houston plays a tough, weary matriarch in her final film performance. With Motown music in its veins, Sparkle maintains its old-fashioned sensibilities without becoming tiresome. Based on the 1976 cult favorite written by Joel Schumacher, this remake follows the same basic story of three sisters who form a girl group, but moves the action from the 1950s to the 1960s.
Whitney Houston and Debra Martin Chase worked for years to bring this modern update of Sparkle to the screen.
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