So I finally sat down and watched Praise This, for the second time and honestly, it reminded me small of Pitch Perfect, but this time it was set inside a church choir. Sam (Chloe Bailey), a stubborn girl from LA whose father sent her packing to Atlanta after she misbehaved one too many times. Losing her mother had already changed her in ways she didn't fully understand, and instead of dealing with that, she was acting out, sneaking into parties she had no business being at, and generally giving her father grey hair. So off to Atlanta she went, to stay with her uncle, aunt, and cousin Jess, a family, so deep in church life that Sam couldn't understand them at first.
What I liked was that Sam wasn't just handed a happy ending. She resisted the whole church thing at the start, looked down on her cousin's faith, and clearly saw the choir as beneath her ambitions. But her uncle wasn't having any of that attitude, and after she got caught lying her way into an adult party, he made her join the church's praise team as punishment. That's really where the film found its groove for me, watching a girl who thought she was too good for gospel music slowly get pulled into it, not because someone preached at her, but because the music and the people around her wore her down in the best way.
The choir itself was struggling before Sam arrived, they'd basically been laughed off stage in an earlier competition, so there was a whole underdog energy running through the story.
Big Love (Druski) a member trying to hold the group together with humor even when things were falling apart, and honestly he brought some of the funniest moments in the film.
And Pastor Goodman (Tristan Mack Wilds), i appreciated that his character felt like an actual person and not just a Bible-quoting stereotype.
Then there was Jess (Anjelika Washington) Sam's cousin, sweet and deeply faithful, but not preachy about it either, and by the end she quietly became one of my favourite characters in the whole thing.
Now let's be honest about where the film struggled. The plot itself wasn't anything new, troubled girl gets sent away, finds herself through unexpected means, learns some life lessons, all wrapped up nicely by the end. We've seen this story a hundred times in different clothes. Some of Sam's growth also felt like it happened too fast, like the writers knew where they wanted her to land emotionally but didn't always take the time to walk us there scene by scene. A few dramatic moments between characters felt more rushed than earned.
But here's the thing that saved it for me was the music. Every time the choir got on that stage, whether in rehearsal or in competition, the energy of the film completely changed.
Chloe Bailey's voice alone carried scenes that the script couldn't. And I respected that the film didn't try to force faith down anybody's throat. It wasn't interested in converting the viewer. it just let the message sit naturally inside the story and the songs, which made it easier to enjoy even if church culture isn't your thing.
Overall, if you're looking for something light to watch on a quiet evening, with good music, some genuine laughs, and a simple story about a girl finding both her voice and her family again, Praise This delivers that. It's not a film that will stay with you for weeks, but for the two hours it lasted, I was entertained.
Rating: 85/100
