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The Preacher's Wife

Play trailer 1:49 Poster for The Preacher's Wife PG Released Dec 13, 1996 2h 4m Fantasy Play Trailer Watchlist
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62% Tomatometer 47 Reviews 43% Popcornmeter 25,000+ Ratings
A cleric begins to doubt himself and is visited by an angel. The heavenly emissary is supposed to help the good reverend over his midlife crisis, but he is distracted by the cleric's lovely young wife. A remake with gospel music of the "The Bishop's Wife".
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The Preacher's Wife

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Critics Consensus

Solid performances and a steady directorial hand help The Preacher's Wife offer some reliably heartwarming - albeit fairly predictable - holiday cheer.

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Critics Reviews

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Lisa Schwarzbaum Entertainment Weekly Rated: A- Sep 7, 2011 Full Review Esther Iverem Washington Post There are many good reasons for going to see The Preacher's Wife. Sep 24, 2002 Full Review Peter Stack San Francisco Chronicle The Preacher's Wife qualifies as old-fashioned Hollywood movie making at its corniest and most saccharine. But the mostly African American cast puts an engaging spin on the chestnut, and it works beautifully. Rated: 3/4 Jun 18, 2002 Full Review Wesley Lovell Cinema Sight That’s the case with The Preacher’s Wife, a film that takes the classic black-and-white film The Bishop’s Wife and turns it into a glossier, minimally inspiring film. Rated: 3/4 Nov 26, 2022 Full Review Rachel Wagner Rachel's Reviews (YouTube) Incredible music and Denzel and Whitney have fantastic chemistry Aug 2, 2022 Full Review Dana Harris Newhouse News Service While the movie has heartwarming stamped all over it, the plot stacks the deck against this light comedy with a dark undercurrent of marital insecurity, failure of leadership and testing one's faith. Rated: 2/4 Nov 6, 2019 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Stephen W WELL, basically it seems like a VERY watered down version of The Bishops Wife with Cary Grant as the Angel! , this one has hardly any supernormal powers in it........ some parts of the film were adequate, but overall had a feeling of unsatisfied relief when it ended! The Bishops Wife in comparison is WONDERFUL! lots of supernormal powers done in a rich feeling way that gave you a tingle of heavenly power! I watch it every year at Christmas, while this Preachers Wife, never again thankyou! Rated 1 out of 5 stars 12/18/24 Full Review Stinson P The Preacher’s Wife is a fun watch for the holidays and while lacking in a few plot points, it’s made up by the strong energy of the cast led by a striking performance including a few musical numbers by Whitney Houston and a charming performance by Denzel Washington. Perfect Christmas family-friendly film. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 12/18/24 Full Review Steve D Ok but pointless remake Rated 3 out of 5 stars 10/06/24 Full Review Dale R This Touchstone release is about an angel who answers the prayer of a preacher to help him see the light once more during the Christmas season. This is a remake of the 1947 film The Bishop’s Wife. Denzel Washington plays the angel and he is dripping charisma in every scene he is in. The preacher is played by Courtney B. Vance and his performance is well done. This movie is well put together and acted well. The highlight of the film is the soundtrack, but here is where it went off the rails for me. Whitney Houston plays the preacher’s wife, and the part was written specifically to highlight her ability to sing. Houston is a fabulous singer and she plays her part in this movie really well (in fact she won an Image Award for best actress for this film), but the movie felt like I was watching a Whitney Houston concert with a plot instead of a film. The soundtrack is filled with gospel and Christmas music and I highly recommend checking that out. I would recommend this movie to you if you are a huge fan of Whitney Houston or Denzel Washington, or you need a Christmas movie fix. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 07/07/24 Full Review Scott W I love everything,Denzel, but this remake of The Bishop's Wife drops the little moments that made the original great. Without them its just flat and predictable. B- Rated 3 out of 5 stars 06/30/24 Full Review D M The Preacher's Wife, The Bishop's Wife and It’s A Wonderful Life have been euphoric holiday staples for every Christmas family get together, since they were available to watch at home. We also have a Christmas in July Gathering and binge watch all three movie films again. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 06/25/24 Full Review Read all reviews
The Preacher's Wife

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Cast & Crew

Three Wishes 13% 52% Three Wishes Watchlist Field of Dreams 88% 86% Field of Dreams Watchlist TRAILER for Field of Dreams Almost an Angel 38% 49% Almost an Angel Watchlist The Rocketeer 66% 65% The Rocketeer Watchlist TRAILER for The Rocketeer The Indian in the Cupboard 70% 41% The Indian in the Cupboard Watchlist TRAILER for The Indian in the Cupboard Discover more movies and TV shows. View More

Movie Info

Synopsis A cleric begins to doubt himself and is visited by an angel. The heavenly emissary is supposed to help the good reverend over his midlife crisis, but he is distracted by the cleric's lovely young wife. A remake with gospel music of the "The Bishop's Wife".
Director
Penny Marshall
Producer
Samuel Goldwyn Jr.
Screenwriter
Nat Mauldin, Allan Scott
Distributor
Buena Vista Pictures
Production Co
Mundy Lane Entertainment
Rating
PG
Genre
Fantasy
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Dec 13, 1996, Original
Release Date (Streaming)
Sep 3, 2014
Box Office (Gross USA)
$48.1M
Runtime
2h 4m
Sound Mix
Surround
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