The Fighting Temptations Review

After flouncing about with a mean afro in "Austin Powers: Goldmember," pitch-perfect pop star Beyonce Knowles is back on the big screen but this time she's managed to hit rather more of a bum note. Instead of crooning sixties classics, Beyonce belts out gospel music in a tale that revolves around Cuba Gooding Jr's no-good advertising exec reluctantly called back to his roots in the Deep South when his aunt dies. Just fired from his job for deception, the compulsive liar is over the moon to find $150,000 inheritance waiting for him - on the proviso that he leads his local church's pathetic choir to glory at the big Gospel competition. The only problem is that there seems to be only one real warbler of any worth and she's going nowhere near the choir: yep, you've guessed it, Beyonce's sultry nightclub singer and single mum.

And while it may not reach the depths of "Glitter" or "Swept Away," you'd be hard pressed to find a more depressingly formulaic star vehicle than this. British director Jonathan Lynn fails to light up the collection of clichéd plot contrivances while Cuba Gooding Jr's awkward central performances makes for one of the most unsympathetic - and frankly annoying - comedic heroes for some time. Meanwhile away from the mike Beyonce is only passable and even the energetic music sequences featuring some of gospel's biggest stars can't save what proves to be an over-long and soulless affair.