Like sitting through church...

As you may have guessed from the title, "The Gospel" is a movie about church. But not the stuffy old church you went to as a kid, this is a rockin' happenin' church where they dance and play the electric guitar. Finally, a movie about how cool it is to go to church... Wait, I mean, who was the idiot that thought it would be a good idea to make a movie about how cool it is to go to church? Now maybe it's just me, but no matter how many flag girls with sequin jumpsuits you put on stage, I would still rather spend my Sundays sleeping in and watching football (or in the off-season just sleeping in some more).\n"The Gospel" is an allegorical retelling of the parable of the prodigal son. Here the prodigal son is a wildly successful R & B singer named David Taylor (Boris Kodjoe). David forsakes the church just before he becomes a minister, and falls into the moral void that is popular music. David eventually returns when his estranged father, the bishop Fred Taylor (Clifton Powell), grows ill. While home, David must confront his past while trying to help save his father's church. All the while, he is falling in love with a member of the choir, Rain (Tamyra Gray of American Idol fame).\nThe story is pretty weak, and it's made weaker by the fact that it's constantly interrupted by long montages set to Gospel music. Besides, the church is in economic trouble and someone steps in and saves the day with music, but that plot was already used by Bing Crosby's "Going My Way." That movie amounted to more than a 90-minute gospel music video, which is honestly all this movie amounts to.\nThe acting is actually quite good. Everyone in the cast plays their parts well, particularly Omar Gooding who plays David's manager. However, I will have to say that the entire time he was on screen I was trying to remember where he was from, then about half way through I remembered and got some dirty looks as I yelled out "Wild and Crazy Kids" during a funeral scene. Even Tamyra Gray is pretty good as Rain. She is easily the best actor to come out of "American Idol" (although I hear Ruben Studdard makes a great Othello). \nOverall, this movie is about as exciting as sitting through church. So if that sounds like a great time to you, then by all means rush to the theaters to see this one. However, to all the other godless heathens out there like me, this is probably not the best choice on a Saturday night.