Whoopi Goldberg recently commented on the choices of the characters she plays: "I like to do these women who are not in relationships, who don't have kids, who don't have outside things..." Anyone who has seen her often in movies will find this to be quite true, and Sister Act is no exception.
Here, Goldberg plays Deloris Van Cartier a lounge singer in a Reno casino being wooed by Vince LaRocca (Harvey Keitel), the casino's owner who, unknown to Deloris, is also a gangster. The action starts when Deloris witnesses a murder by Keitel's goons. She rushes to the police department who, keen on trying to put away Vince for good, enroll her in a witness protection program.
The catch is that Deloris must now assume the role of Sister Mary Clarence, a nun at St. Katherine's convent. The basic theme of the movie is milking laughs at the conflict between Deloris' and the nuns' lifestyles. Eventually Deloris, given her music abilities, wins over the other nuns in the convent, gets rescued by them when Vince finds out where she's hiding, and puts on a smash concert that revamps traditional notions of what a Church choir should sound like.
Some of the highlights include some wise-cracking by an older nun, the "proper" behaviour of the Mother Superior, and the standing ovation from the Pope. The acting by all characters is pretty good, though the movie appears to move slowly at times. This is a funny movie that is worth renting if you've not seen it before.