53
Metascore
32 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 83Entertainment WeeklyEntertainment WeeklyMakes shameless use of tried-and-true elements -- but it's hardly the same old song.
- 80Dallas ObserverBill GalloDallas ObserverBill GalloThe plot's a trifle, but so what. Director Lynn (My Cousin Vinny) stages a series of seamless, ebullient show-stoppers that encompass every musical style from gospel and soul to contemporary R&B and hip-hop, and the choreography ranks with anything you'll find on Broadway.
- 80Los Angeles TimesKevin ThomasLos Angeles TimesKevin ThomasA rousing, warmhearted comedy, as infectious as the gospel music it celebrates.
- 70L.A. WeeklyChuck WilsonL.A. WeeklyChuck WilsonFormulaic but infectiously happy comedy.
- 70The Hollywood ReporterSheri LindenThe Hollywood ReporterSheri LindenThis culture-clash romantic comedy, scripted by Elizabeth Hunter and Saladin K. Patterson, goes exactly where you'd expect, but helmer Lynn, a comedy vet, gets it there with such infectious energy that you don't much mind the story's predictability.
- 63ReelViewsJames BerardinelliReelViewsJames BerardinelliThe movie's musical sequences, which primarily feature popularized versions of gospel standards, are exhilarating and energetic. Unfortunately, that's only half the story, because the so-called dramatic material, which links together all the musical numbers, is mind-numbingly bad.
- 60VarietyVarietyPaper-thin plot serves as a pretext for rousing gospel numbers in The Fighting Temptations, which straddles styles and eras to get everybody's toes tapping.
- 50Village VoiceVillage VoiceThe camera loves Beyoncé, but her acting coach may harbor more ambivalence; if she could convert the imperious urgency of her best singing to screen presence, we might stop wishing Whitney would come back from her own private netherlands.
- 40The New York TimesDana StevensThe New York TimesDana StevensThis movie feels phony and slick, as if it were cooked up by Darrin's cynical ad agency, rather than at his aunt's stove down in Montecarlo.
- 30The A.V. ClubNathan RabinThe A.V. ClubNathan RabinThe energetic musical sequences help make it feel warmer and more ingratiating than it otherwise would, which is fortunate, since this rickety vehicle needs all the help it can get.