MovieChat Forums > Sister Act (1992) Discussion > Catholics beware ... this ones funny

Catholics beware ... this ones funny

posted 17 years ago by mloessel
15 replies | jump to latest

Once I got past the ridiculousness of Sister Act I thought the movie was funny. Singing secular songs in a Catholic church is usually not permitted, the congregation never applauds following a song or instrumental piece. And if there's a choir it's normally not made up of nuns.
With that said, I thought Maggie Smith played a very convincing Mother Superior. Whoopi Goldberg is at her comedic best as she deals with the restricted life of a nun following her placement in the Witness Protection Program. Goldberg plays Deloris Van Carter a Vegas lounge singer (i.e., Reno) who has the misfortune of witnessing her mobster boyfriend Vince (Harvey Keitel) kill someone. The boyfriend wants her dead and the police want Vince behind bars permanently. Deloris reluctantly accepts the witness protection program but is shocked when she learns she's going to temporarily live with nuns in a local Catholic church.
Mother Superior (Smith) is none too thrilled about this arrangement but says ok. Deloris is definitely not thrilled when she sees the very restricting life the nuns choose to live. The movie has a good pace and Kathy Najimy, Wendy Makenna, and Mary Wickes do credible work as the nuns who befriend Deloris ... aka ... Sister Mary Clarence. The secular songs were ok and Goldberg (Mary Clarence) had a decent voice as did the other nuns (if those were their voices).
This movie makes it towards the top of my B list ... and Catholics beware you might find this one entertaining. A choir of nuns singing secular songs during a Sunday mass ... how dare they??? how dare they indeed !!!

[–] karina_mackarina 17 years ago

I'm a little confused, why should Catholics beware? I'm Catholic and I love Sister Act.

And sometimes we do sing secular songs in mass, as long as it has a religious meaning. But that only happens when the people in my youth group do the music at mass!

[–] morgan_mourning 17 years ago

I agree, why beware? I was raised Catholic and I think this movie's great! Sometimes what I find funny my Mom certainly doesn't regarding stuff like this, and she thought this movie was pretty darn funny, especially when Sister Mary Clarence says "grace" at the table.

"Zombies, man. They creep me out."

[–] FrankStanko 17 years ago

The funny thing is, I went to a Catholic high school, and every year, we did "Hail Holy Queen" a la the Nuns.

Would this film have flyed in the pre-Vatican 2 era? Doubt it. But I think it's a crowd-pleaser through and through.

[–] priestpilot 17 years ago

Yeah I'm catholic and went to catholic school as well. Though in my local church the choir was just a bunch of old people, and the mass was not interesting at all. So my mother brought us to a baptist church, where they sing their faith with upbeat music, and to me practicing the faith should be that way! There's nothing that touches me more than music, so it's how I love to hear the good word. Then when I was in secondary school, it was actually in another town so it was a different church. The band played during school masses, and the priest there was more progressive, and I really loved it. I even played in a few masses, and I really enjoyed it. Even though this is fictional, I love how they made the church more interesting and worth going to. As my mother says, most people will not understand the traditional faith, that's why it is boring and they'll just ignore it. However, when there's a way to really get in touch with the people, then it's more interesting and people will understand better.

[–] wiccaryan 16 years ago

I was raised catholic as well, and i was raised on this movie...watched it all the time when i was young.

I think the title 'Catholics beware...this ones funny' is supposed to be a nod to the fact that often films with a catholic theme etc, are taken far too seriously by the RC church, they can be deemed blasfemous etc.

remember, i'm catholic so don't have a go at me saying this!

Sometimes an accident can be an unhappy womans best friend

[–] 16 years ago

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[–] MetFanMac 16 years ago

Why? They're killers! They get what they deserve!

Supermodels...spoiled stupid little stick figures mit poofy lips who sink only about zemselves.

[–] 16 years ago

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[–] MetFanMac 16 years ago

So just because they don't like killing nuns, but everybody else is fair game, you feel sorry for them? Remember, while she was running away from them they were shooting at her anyway!

Supermodels...spoiled stupid little stick figures mit poofy lips who sink only about zemselves.

[–] 16 years ago

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[–] Hedgie1982 16 years ago

No way this is a B grade movie.

[–] SorrowNoMore 15 years ago

Maybe they didn't want to kill her, not out of a sense of morality, but out of a sense of base superstition? Not because they think that killing a person associated with goodness and piety (a nun) is particularly bad, but because they think there will be a worse consequence?

[–] MetFanMac 15 years ago

Well, Mafia are (stereotypically) portrayed as being devout Cathloics, so they probably felt offing a nun would get them into trouble with the Big Guy Upstairs.

Supermodels...spoiled stupid little stick figures mit poofy lips who sink only about zemselves.

[–] 15 years ago

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[–] MetFanMac 13 years ago

Well, y'know, "devout" for a given value of it

Supermodels...spoiled stupid little stick figures mit poofy lips who sink only about zemselves.