The Fighting Temptations

The Fighting Temptations
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Jonathan Lynn
Produced by	David Gale Loretha C. Jones Benny Medina Jeff Pollack
Written by	Elizabeth Hunter Saladin K. Patterson
Narrated by	Steve Harvey
Starring	Cuba Gooding, Jr. Beyoncé Knowles Mike Epps Latanya Richardson Wendell Pierce Ann Nesby Lourdes Benedicto Dakin Matthews Faith Evans Steve Harvey
Music by	Jimmy Jam Beyoncé Knowles Terry Lewis James "Big Jim" Wright
Cinematography	Affonso Beato
Editing by	Paul Hirsch
Studio	MTV Films
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release date(s)	September 19, 2003 (2003-09-19)
Running time	123 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$30 million
Box office	$32,750,821

The Fighting Temptations is a 2003 American musical dramedy film produced by Paramount Pictures and MTV Films. It stars Cuba Gooding, Jr. as the film's protagonist as he attempts to revive a church choir in order to enter a gospel competition with the help of a beautiful lounge singer (Beyoncé Knowles), with whom he falls in love. The two must work together to bring the church community together, while developing a romantic relationship.

The film is notable for its soundtrack and all star cast.

Plot

The film begins in the year 1980, where a young boy named Darrin Hill (Cuba Gooding, Jr.) and his mother MaryAnn (Faith Evans) are run out of town after MaryAnn was discovered to be singing secular music when she sings in a church choir also. Aunt Sally (Ann Nesby) tries to defend MaryAnn, but it fails. The church's pastor, Reverend Lewis (Wendell Pierce) is too afraid of the other church members to let her stay. MaryAnn and Darrin are last seen saying goodbye to Aunt Sally, as they sadly wave goodbye to each other. Twenty-three years later, Darrin has grown up to become a successful advertising executive in New York City with a bad habit of lying. His best friend and secretary Rosa Lopez (Lourdes Benedicto) does a good job at keeping his credit problems under control. However, Darrin has achieved so much under false pretenses and faked his college degree and high school diploma. He also lied about being the son of a congressman, and his lies soon catch up with him and get him in trouble with his paranoid boss (Dakin Matthews) and he loses his job. After being tracked down by a private investigator, Darrin finds out that Aunt Sally has died.

Darrin returns to his hometown of Monte Carlo, Georgia and looks back on both comical and heartbreaking memories of MaryAnn and the experiences they had together. When Darrin arrives, he finds a new friendship in Lucious (Mike Epps), the town's happy-go-lucky cab driver. Lucious is obsessed with women's booties and even proclaims himself a "Booty expert" and "Bootyologist". After the funeral, Darrin learns from the Reverend that Aunt Sally stated in her will that he must direct the church choir and enter the annual "Gospel Explosion" competition and win the prize money of $10,000 and Aunt Sally's stock in the company that produces the show which is worth $150,000 dollars. The main problem Darrin must deal with is the wicked church treasurer Paulina (Latanya Richardson), who is also the Reverend's sister and the same woman who bullied MaryAnn into leaving Monte Carlo. Paulina despises Darrin because of MaryAnn and she also thinks he stole her "dream job" as choir director, as she has waited years for Sally to pass away. Later that night, Darrin and Lucious go to a night club, where Darrin eventually reunites with his old childhood friend named Lilly (Beyoncé Knowles), who happens to be the tavern's headliner. Darrin first hears Lilly sing at the club when she performs "Fever", and attempt to flirt with her, but she coldly rejects him by saying she has a jealous "boyfriend" named Dean. After many failed auditions, Darrin finally finds good singers, but most of them want to get paid. He cons them into the choir by saying that he will pay them half of the prize money, but secretly has no intentions of paying anybody. After a stressful effort, Darrin finally convinces Lilly to join the choir, and also bonds with Dean thereafter, who is actually her 9-year-old son she had out of wedlock.

Later on, Paulina reveals that Darrin forgot to enter the choir into the auditions. Luckily, the audition judge, Luther Washington (Faizon Love), who is also the town's prison warden, lets them perform in a show for his prisoners when the booked act fails to arrive. Thanks to Lilly's beautiful looks and voice, the choir performs well and Washington lets them into the competition. Washington also lets Darrin use three convicts who can sing well. The three convicts are Bee-Z Briggs, Lightfoot, and Mr. Johnson (T-Bone, Chris Cole, and Montell Jordan). After weeks of success, the choir has become more popular, more people have joined the church and the choir. Darrin also begins dating Lilly. However, Paulina takes a message for Darrin in a phone call from Rosa and learns of his past troubles, and intends on exposing him the first chance she gets. The next afternoon at a church barbecue, Paulina deliberately reveals Darrin's secrets with a polite demeanor, in order to make herself look innocent. Lilly is furious and heartbroken about this and the people who he promised money to begin to panic, and tells Darrin that she doesn't care what he does, she was only using him because he was using her. Since Lilly wants nothing to do with him, Darrin decides to quit and return to New York, where he has been offered his job back. He goes back and gets a new condo and a promotion, and comes to realize that none of these things mean anything without Lilly and the choir. Darrin quits his job and returns to Monte Carlo and reconciles with Lilly. The couple recruits Lucious the Reverend and they rush down to the Gospel Explosion to join the choir for the performance. When they arrive, they manage to convince the others to vote Paulina out of the choir, giving Darrin his position as director back. Before their performance begins, Darrin tells Lilly that she inspired him to name the choir The Fighting Temptations.

After an outstanding performance, the choir wins the competition, but before ending his acceptance speech, Darrin proposes to Lilly. Eighteen months later, they are married with a baby. Paulina is welcomed back into the choir after having dropped her hypocritical ways. As the film ends, Lucious asks Darrin and Lilly's new baby: "You know I'm your daddy, right?", but Lilly's grandfather hears this and gives Lucious a mean stare. Lucious immediately backs away from the baby and says he was just joking.

Cast

• Cuba Gooding Jr. as Darrin Hill
• Beyoncé Knowles as Lilly
• Mike Epps as Lucious
• Latanya Richardson as Paulina Lewis-Pritchett
• Wendell Pierce as Reverend Paul Lewis
• Ann Nesby as Aunt Sally
• Lourdes Benedicto as Rosa Lopez
• Dakin Matthews as Mr. Fairchild
• T-Bone as Briggs (Convict #1)
• Montell Jordan as Mr. Johnson (Convict #2)
• Lou Myers as Homer
• Angie Stone as Alma
• Melba Moore as Bessie
• Mitchah Williams as Jimmy B.
• Mickey Jones as Scooter
• Dave Sheridan as Bill the mechanic
• Rue McClanahan as Nancy
• Lil Zane as Derek
• Mae Middleton as Tasha
• Eddie Levert as Joseph
• Walter Williams as Frank
• Eric Nolan Grant as Samuel
• Darrell Vanterpool as Dean
• Faizon Love as Luther Washington (Prison Warden)
• Faith Evans as MaryAnn Hill
• Steve Harvey as Miles Smoke (Local Radio DJ)
• James E. Gaines as Lilly's grandfather
• Chris Cole as Lightfoot (Convict #3)

Cameos

• Shirley Caesar as Herself
• The Blind Boys of Alabama as Themselves
• Mary Mary as Themselves
• Ramiyah as Themselves
• Donnie McClurkin as Judge of Gospel Explosion (Himself)
• Yolanda Adams as Judge of Gospel Explosion (Herself)
• Daphne Duplaix as Tiffany, Darrin's girlfriend

Production

The film crew used several locations throughout Georgia. The final scene was filmed in Columbus, GA at the River Center for Performing Arts. Several of the extras were local residents of Columbus, GA.

Reception

The music of the film received universal acclaim, most notably, Beyoncé's cover of "Fever".

However, the film itself received generally mixed to negative reviews upon its release. The film was criticized for its allegedly poor dialogue, premise and romantic chemistry between the film's lead actors (Cuba Gooding Jr. and Beyoncé Knowles) as well as their noticeable age difference. Despite the mixed reviews the film opened at #2. Notably, Ebert & Roeper reviewed the film and Roger Ebert gave it thumbs up, while Richard Roeper gave it thumbs down.

The movie was a moderate success at the box office, with a worldwide gross of US$32,445,215. However, it did not garner enough revenue for a second installment to go into production, as the primary actors had signed on for one.

However, the cast themselves were very pleased with the film, citing its uplifting story and soundtrack. Gooding has confessed in several interviews following the film's release that he enjoyed filming his kissing scenes with Knowles. In a 2011 interview on The Late Late Show, Gooding made a humorous reference to this by saying: (In the false words of the host) "Didn't he make love with Beyoncé on the set of something?".

Soundtrack

A soundtrack accompanied the film which was released a short while before the film was. The soundtrack received generally positive reviews and was more successful that the film itself. Only one song from the album, "Summertime", is not included in the movie. Also, late R&B legend Luther Vandross also recorded a song for the film called "Shine" but it failed to make the final cut of the film as well as the soundtrack. The most obvious reference to this is the fact that Vandross frequently says the title of the film in the song. The song "Come Back Home" appears in the film, but was not included in the soundtrack album.

1. "Fighting Temptation" — Beyoncé (feat. Missy Elliott, MC Lyte, and Free)
2. "I Know" — Destiny's Child
3. "Rain Down" — Eddie Levert and Angie Stone
4. "To da River" — T-Bone, Lil Zane, and Montell Jordan
5. "I'm Getting Ready" — Ann Nesby
6. "The Stone" — Shirley Caesar and Ann Nesby
7. "Heaven Knows" — Faith Evans
8. "Fever" — Beyoncé
9. "Everything I Do" — Beyoncé and Bilal
10. "Loves Me Like a Rock" — The O'Jays
11. "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" — Beyoncé
12. "He Still Loves Me" — Walter Williams Sr. and Beyoncé
13. "Time to Come Home" — Beyoncé, Melba Moore, and Angie Stone
14. "Don't Fight the Feeling" — Solange and Papa Reu
15. "Summertime" — Beyoncé (feat. P. Diddy) (Note: This is the only song that does not appear in the film)
16. "Shine" — Luther Vandross (Note: This song was written and recorded for the film but failed to make the final cut)

Home media

The film was released on VHS and DVD on February 3, 2004.

In 2008, the film was reissued with new cover art. However, the disc art is the same as the original release. Though mildly rare, the film is sold in some locations under Paramount's "Comedy Hits" collection.

It has yet to be released on Blu-Ray.

Possible sequel

In a 2003 interview with Mickey Jones, (who had a supporting role in the film), for HollywoodJesus.com, he stated that he hoped the film performed well because all of the principal actors had signed on for a sequel. But as of 2012, nearly a decade after the film's release, nothing has been announced about a sequel. More than likely, a sequel may not be made due to the film barely making its budget during its theatrical run and the mixed reviews the film received.

Broadcast history

The film made its debut on television on Showtime in 2005 almost two years after the film's release. The film has aired on BET, VH1 and it frequently airs on TBS commonly during early morning hours or late night hours.

Awards and nominations

Ceremony	Recipient	Category	Result
BET Comedy Awards	Beyoncé Knowles	Outstanding Actress in a Box-Office Movie	Nominated
	Mike Epps	Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Box-Office Movie	Nominated
Black Reel Awards	Cuba Gooding Jr.	Best Actor	Nominated
	Beyoncé Knowles	Best Actress	Nominated
	Elizabeth Hunter Saladin K. Patterson	Best Screenplay Original or Adapted	Nominated
		Best Film	Nominated
		Best Film Soundtrack	Won
	"He Still Loves Me"	Best Film Song	Won
Golden Raspberry Awards	Cuba Gooding Jr.	Worst Actor	Nominated
Image Awards		Outstanding Motion Picture	Won
	Beyoncé Knowles	Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture	Nominated

See also

• "Fighting Temptation" (Beyoncé Knowles song)

External links

• Official website
• The Fighting Temptations at the Internet Movie Database
• The Fighting Temptations at AllRovi
• The Fighting Temptations at Box Office Mojo
• The Fighting Temptations at Rotten Tomatoes