Taglines: She was one temptation, he couldn’t resist.
A New York advertising executive who is about to land a big account, has his life shaken up when it becomes known that he has lied about having a college degree. After being fired, his life is further shaken by his debtors who had counted on paying after landing the account. Having to go on the run, he is called back to his southern town roots, when his great aunt dies.
At the reading of the will, he learns he has been asked to assume the mantle of choir director of his great aunt’s church and if he can get the choir in the Gospel Explosion in Atlanta, he will inherit stock worth $150,000. Unfortunately the choir leaves a lot to be desired and he has to start recruiting. Among others, he gets three prisoners to join. More importantly, he gets a “sinner” from one of the local night clubs to join. While initially scorned and resisted, nonetheless her voice wins everyone but the hardcore church busybody.
The Fighting Temptations is an American musical comedy-drama film directed by Jonathan Lynn, written by Elizabeth Hunter and Saladin K. Patterson, and distributed by Paramount Pictures and MTV Films. The main plot revolves around Darrin Hill (Cuba Gooding, Jr.) who travels to his hometown of Monte Carlo, Georgia as he attempts to revive a church choir in order to enter a gospel competition with the help of a beautiful lounge singer, Lilly (Beyoncé Knowles), with whom he falls in love. Through the choir’s music, Darrin brings the church community back together all the while pursuing a romantic relationship with Lilly.
In 1980, a young boy named Darrin Hill (Cuba Gooding, Jr.) and his mother, MaryAnn (Faith Evans), are run out of town after MaryAnn was soon discovered to be a singing secular music when she also sings in a church choir. Aunt Sally (Ann Nesby) attempts to defend MaryAnn, but it fails. The church’s cowardly 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 with each other. In 2003, Darrin has grown up to become a successful advertising executive in New York City with a bad habit of lying.
Darrin’s only true 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. Darrin 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 Darrin loses his job. After being tracked down by a private investigator, Darrin soon 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”.
At Aunt Sally’s funeral, Shirley Caesar makes a cameo appearance as a character who was an old friend of Sally and sings at the funeral. After the funeral, Darrin soon learns from the Reverend that Aunt Sally had stated in her will that he must return home to 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 currently worth $150,000. Paulina is furious with the belief that Sally gave the choir to the wrong person and tried to plead her case.
Later, 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).
Directed by: Jonathan Lynn
Starring: Cuba Gooding, Jr., Beyoncé Knowles, Mike Epps, Steve Harvey, Demetress Long, Faith Evans, Melba Moore, Chloe Bailey
Screenplay by: Elizabeth Hunter, Saladin K. Patterson
Production Design by: Victoria Paul
Cinematography by: Affonso Beato
Film Editing by: Paul Hirsch
Costume Design by: Mary Jane Fort, Tracey White
Set Decoration by: Diana Stoughton
Music by: Jimmy Jam, Terry Lewis, Big Jim Wright
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for some sexual references.
Studio: Paramount Pictures
Release Date: September 19, 2003
