THE GOSPEL BY BROOKE HOLGERSON

103 MINUTES | PROVIDENCE PLACE 16

As its title would imply, there’s a fair bit of music in the new film by writer/director Rob Hardy, and that’s a good thing, because it’s only during the musical numbers that your attention won’t wander away from the screen. The rest of the time, the film is concerned with a simultaneously overwrought and underdeveloped plot about a successful R&B musician (Boris Kodjoe) who returns home to his ailing father’s Atlanta parish, where he must save the church to find himself and get back to his roots. Poorly written by its director, The Gospel’s many supporting characters (including Tamyra Gray of American Idol) act from unclear motivations, and speak in dubious clichés: not one seems like a real person. Hardy’s films have had some grassroots success, which is more a testament to the desires of his underserved demographic to see themselves represented onscreen than to the quality of his films. The audience deserves better.