Looking Back on ‘Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit’
Released at the tail end of 1993, the musical family film Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit is celebrating its 30th anniversary. Like many sequels, the second installment of the Sister Act duology (potentially a trilogy) expertly uses what was enjoyable about its first installment to make itself entertaining and delightful.
Having grossed over $57 million domestically, Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit begins with a performance from singer Deloris Van Cartier (Whoopi Goldberg), performing as a headliner in Las Vegas. During the performance, she notices that Sisters Mary Patrick (Kathy Najimy), Mary Robert (Wendy Makkena), and Mary Lazarus (Mary Wickes) are in attendance. Meeting with them after the show, Deloris is informed that the nuns came on orders from Mother Superior (Maggie Smith), asking them to bring her to San Francisco. Agreeing to go with them, Deloris meets with Mother Superior and learns that the nuns are having difficulty teaching at the city’s St. Francis High School - they are asking Deloris to again pretend to be Sister Mary Clarence to teach the students’ music class, which she agrees to do.
When Deloris enters her first class session, she is met by a class that isn’t interested in her teaching. One student, Rita Watson (Lauryn Hill), informs Deloris that the class considers the music course a “bird course” because they “fly right through it,” and that they pass it by attendance alone. After Deloris threatens to fail them, the class, save for Rita, decides to stay enrolled and take it seriously. Discovering they can sing, Deloris decides to have them become a choir.
Deloris’ class-turned-choir contains actors who continued careers after the sequel. Hill has led a music career that has included work with her Grammy-winning group Fugees and work with Nas and Aretha Franklin. Fugees’ album The Score won a Grammy for Best Rap Album and received a nomination for Album of the Year; its track “Killing Me Softly With His Song” won the award for Best R&B Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal, while Hill’s 1998 solo album, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, received five Grammy Awards at the 1999 ceremony. Tanya Trotter, who portrays Tanya, has also pursued music as one-half of the duo The War and Treaty with husband Michael Trotter Jr. The duo received Grammy nominations for Best New Artist and Best American Roots Song for their album Lover’s Game and song “Blank Page,” respectively. Later projects for Alanna Ubach, who portrays Maria, include Pixar’s Coco and the series See Dad Run and Euphoria. Jennifer Love Hewitt, who portrays Margaret, later starred in I Know What You Did Last Summer and I Still Know What You Did Last Summer, and the television series Party of Five, Ghost Whisperer, and 9-1-1, among multiple other projects.
A discussion of anything Sister Act can’t be had without mentioning musical elements. From its opening minutes, in which Deloris performs a mash-up of songs on stage in Las Vegas, the sequel is filled with engaging and fun musical sequences. Other stand-out performances include Deloris and the nuns performing “Ball of Confusion (That’s What the World Is Today)” for the students, and a school performance in which Deloris leads the choir in “Oh, Happy Day.” Despite forthcoming descriptions of the film’s serious moments, there is a sense of joy that permeates throughout these musical sequences.
1992’s Sister Act showcased both comedic and serious elements, but its sequel’s serious, emotional scenes are the scenes that stand out. In one, after the performance of “Ball of Confusion (That’s What the World Is Today)” - before the class has grown attached to Deloris - they act unimpressed by the nuns’ performance. In a very serious moment, we watch Deloris lightly scold them, asking them to not disrespect them or embarrass her, and that it is hard for the nuns to perform in front of the class. In one scene, Rita, initially removed from the rest of the students who agreed to remain enrolled, looks on through a window as they practice. Deloris invites her to join them, but she walks away; watching Rita being left out is saddening, too.
In another, seriousness is found in comedy. When they are first against her, the class puts glue on Deloris’ chair and hopes she’ll get stuck to it. She tries to explain her love of music to them, and a student, Tyler Chase (Christian Fitzharris), continuously asks her questions that prolongs her sitting down onto the glue. His classmates get angry at him and anticipate Deloris getting stuck to the chair. She misinterprets their excitement at her sitting in the glue to be interest in her talking, and when she finds out that she has been tricked and the students laugh at her, genuine sadness is experienced.
A cut to Deloris having to wheel herself down the hall as she cannot stand from the chair seems intended to be comedic, but it comes across as sad, too. While Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit is funny, it shines just as brightly when emotional moments take center stage.
The film’s adult cast also contains actors who continued dense careers after its release. Having the class compete in the All-State Music Competition, Deloris faces conflict with Florence Watson, Rita’s mother, who is against Rita pursuing dreams of singing because singing, to her, is not a sound pathway. Florence is portrayed by Sheryl Lee Ralph, who, after Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit, has continued her career with multiple projects, including the television series Moesha, Instant Mom, and Abbott Elementary. Maggie Smith later portrayed Professor Minerva McGonagall in seven of the eight Harry Potter film adaptations, while Kathy Najimy recently reprised her role of Mary Sanderson in the sequel Hocus Pocus 2.
When the group competes in the All-State Music Competition, there is genuine tension when the winning groups are revealed - and hope that Deloris’ group will win. In its serious moments, Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit develops investment in its characters and, in its climax, effectively showcases stakes. The love for these characters from the first film carries over into this installment - an enjoyment of them is evident in the film’s opening minutes when they reunite.
Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit works because it includes great musical numbers and moments that speak to the audience. While comedy is absolutely present in the film, the 1993 sequel is exemplary at tugging at its viewers’ heartstrings and establishing connections to its characters. All of its strengths, in the end, produce a feature that is fun and joyful.
