The film is probably best known for its title song. The Rose Royce song has survived better than the film and it’s something you’ll hear with semi-regularity on oldies radio, TV and commercials. That’s kind of sad because the film is better than you might think.
A purely character driven comedy the film works because it’s full of great character actors. Bill Duke, Antonio Fargas , Ivan Dixon, Franklin Ajaye and Tracy Reed are all in the film and creating great characters. The film also has some big names doing cameos. George Carlin is a cab driver looking for a fare that skipped out, Richard Pryor plays a money hungry evangelist and the full complement of the Pointer Sisters play his choir. They do a killer rendition of You Gotta Believe and every time I see the movie on TV I always pause until I hear the song.
I remember when the film was released it got mixed reviews. Some critics wanted more than the breezy diversion they go. Some other got it. Audiences got it and it made a little bit of money thanks in part to the song. For me the film was always a safe film that I could put on and forget my troubles for 100 minutes.
I like it.
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