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'The Gospel': Soul-stirring music is its saving grace

Shot on location in Atlanta, "The Gospel" is a preachy soap opera about Saturday night and Sunday morning. The movie's melodramatic musings about the line between the secular and the sacred are set to a soul-stirring soundtrack, produced by contemporary gospel superstar Kirk Franklin, and featuring performances by the likes of Donnie McClurkin, Yolanda Adams and Delores "Mom" Winans.

Screen Gems 'The Gospel' C The verdict: Preaching to the choir. Director: Rob Hardy Starring: Boris Kodjoe, Idris Elba, Nona Gaye, Clifton Powell, Aloma Wright Run time: 103 minutes Release date: Oct. 7, 2005 Rating: PG for thematic elements including suggestive material and mild language. See showtimes On the web Official movie site View the trailer    Trailers require Quicktime [an error occurred while processing this directive]

That's its greatest appeal, even for those who've never set foot inside an African-American church. But in his retelling of the story of the prodigal son, writer-director Rob Hardy ("Trois," "Pandora's Box") never gets to anything like the depths of the gospel moans and shouts he celebrates.

In fact, when the music isn't pounding in sanctified syncopation, the look and the dialogue of "The Gospel" are a lot like what you might see and hear on daytime TV.

David Taylor (Boris Kodjoe) is the estranged pop singer son of Pastor Fred Taylor (Clifton Powell). Climbing the charts with a sexually supercharged hit, "Let Me Undress You," the younger Taylor returns to his hometown of Atlanta, having left God and his widowed father far behind.

Flashbacks give a glimpse of the old Oedipal conflict and set the stage for a showdown with a childhood friend (Idris Elba), who's now a showy pastor scheming to take over his father's church.

Hardy has plenty of opportunities to examine the foibles of the current crop of theatrical "prosperity" preachers. But that's clearly not his purpose, as time and again he goes for easier, cliched images — juxtaposing liquor bottles and leather-bound Bibles, hip-hop bump-and-grind and dancing in the spirit.

And with all that, Hardy's sure to please his target audience, even if he's only preaching to the choir.