GOSPEL, THE - DVD review

"The Gospel" is a film that's pretty much by-the-book. And I'm not talking about The Bible. There's surprisingly little proselytizing in this upbeat religious melodrama, and near zip in the way of scriptural references. But the plot is so hackneyed and formulaic that "The Gospel" feels like a daytime Lifetime movie . . . until the songs kick in.

With a storyline so familiar and trite, and dialogue that just barely rings true, viewers will likely praise God for the music. "The Gospel" features wall-to-wall, down-home, authentic, hand-clapping, foot-stomping Gospel music with a host of real-life performers that include Yolanda Adams, Hezekiah Walker, Fred Hammond, Donnie McClurkin, Tom Joyner, Myra J, Miss Dupree, and Martha Munizzi, as well as new music by Kirk Franklin. More than most movies, "The Gospel" is awash with high-energy and soulful sound—sometimes in background, other times with full-on performances by church choirs, etc.

Filmed and partially set in Atlanta, "The Gospel" combines two familiar narrative tropes: the prodigal son who strays and returns to the great relief and celebration of his father, and the save-the-(blank) event that pits the old-school purists against business-minded developers or such. You could watch it with your eyes closed and a music-only soundtrack and still not miss a narrative beat, it's that by-the-numbers.

Boris Kodjoe ("Love & Basketball") plays David Taylor, the son of a bishop (Clifton Powell) who was so wrapped up in his congregation that he had little time for his family. When David's mother dies and the father is too busy to even make it to the hospital to say his good-byes, the young man vows not to have anything to do with his father or the church that pulled them apart. Flash forward 15 years and David has become a Bobby Brown of sorts, earning $40,000 minimum per performance and cresting on a wave of popularity brought to him by his latest recording, "Let Me Undress You." It's not blues, but to Bishop Taylor and those who knew David from his choir days, it's still the devil's music.

The plot is set in motion when David receives a phone call from his father's secretary, telling him he's sick. It turns out that Dad has prostate cancer, and David seems to instantly reconcile with his father and decides to stay around—though, of course, in typical melodramatic fashion, the complicated factors of that would accompany a turnaround like this aren't explored. There's not much conflict here. Part of the problem is that David seems so consistently mellow and unflappable that it's hard to believe that 15 years of estrangement have passed, or that working in a business where egos get bruised hasn't hardened him in any way. Though his "show me the money" agent, Wesley (played by Omar Gooding, whose performance bears an uncanny resemblance to brother Cuba's in "Jerry McGuire"), keeps reminding him he's got deals to broker and gigs to fulfill, "D" isn't torn at all. From the moment he hops on a plane and goes to his father's bedside, his 15-year estrangement is magically fixed. His father's accepting, and the son is suddenly understanding and dutiful again.

Shades of "The Preacher's Wife," there's a look-to-the-future villain who's so egocentric that his picture appears on billboards and TV commercials. The Bishop bypassed his old friend to select young Rev. Charles Frank (Idris Elba, "The Wire") as his successor. And of course Rev. Frank has dreams of grandeur for a bigger, better church with himself beamed big as God on big screens behind him as he speaks. There's also a love interest and dating rivalry. Just as the angel character in "The Preacher's Wife" was drawn to the wife of the minister he was to help, David is drawn to a woman ("American Idol" star Tamyra Gray)with a child whose husband (Dwayne Boyd) wants them to get back together. But again, the storyline is so familiar and the narrative so hurried and compressed that it feels unbelievably neat and tidy. But the music? It's positively wonderful. Can I hear an "Amen"?

Of the performances, Gooding's and Nona Gaye's, as the wife of the power-hungry reverend, are the best. They make the most of the time they're on-camera and manage to convey a degree of complexity that the others aren't able to manage. The other characters seem nearly as cardboard as some of the exterior scenes that look so unnatural we suspect green screens were clumsily used. There's an amateurish quality to the camerawork that can seem annoying, and I'm not talking about a hand-held effect. I'm talking about the way shots are framed and the way that light seems to be playing the cinematographer, instead of the other way around.

Video: Though the film is mastered in High Definition and presented in 1.85:1 aspect ratio, the exteriors look funny at times, as if a film of background were inserted behind characters in a studio, and a grainy, gauzy film at that. Other times, light washes things out. The interiors are considerably sharper, with more consistently vivid colors.

Audio: By contrast, the audio is pretty crisp, especially the side-speaker and rear-speaker action. The English Dolby Digital 5.1 has pretty natural separation of sounds, and a decent balance of treble and bass. Subtitles are in English only.

Extras: A brief making-of featurette seems a half-hearted marketing attempt, with not much in the way of behind-the-scenes insights. Same, really, with the commentary by director Rob Hardy and producer Will Packer, who mostly talk about why Gospel and salute friends and performers. It's average at best. Rounding out the extras are a few deleted scenes and extended musical performances (hooray for the latter!), and a photo montage.

Bottom Line: "The Gospel" isn't a bad film—certainly not as awful as deliberately preachy films like "The Omega Code" or "Megiddo"—but there's nothing original about it. Believers feel that Gospel music has a saving power, and that may be true. It certainly saves this film. I shudder to think what it would have been like to watch this without the music.