( READ: TIMEвЂ™s appreciation of Whitney Houston) Sparkle herself is not just a singer, but a prolific songwriter, who the third sister says вЂњcould be the next Smokey Robinson.вЂќ (I should use her name, Dolores, since I liked her and Tika Sumpter, the actress playing her, but as the вЂњplainвЂќ sister least enchanted with the spotlight, Dolores exists to get the narrative shaft.) EppвЂ™s Satin is a comedian who caters to white audiences, a self-described вЂњSambo,вЂќ while the original Satin only had the imagination to be a mobster.

Everyone in this Sparkle has more money and better jobs. When things didnвЂ™t work out with music, cast members departed for the Civil Rights movement or construction jobs вЂњupstateвЂќ paying the princely sum of $5 to $10 an hour. TheyвЂ™re very different worlds, Motown dangling tantalizingly in front of Sparkle and her sisters in the remake, while in Harlem 10 years earlier things were more casual. The old SparkleВ took place in Harlem in 1958, this one is in Detroit in 1968. Older even than Dreamgirls, which it has much in common with, starting with the setting. This yearвЂ™s Sparkle, like the original (which had the distinction of being written by famed Hollywood player Joel Schumacher when he was a wee thing of 37) is about corruption, the price of physical beauty and triumph against the odds, all stories as old as the hills. From the get-go, nobody except Sister likes Satin the girlsвЂ™ mother Emma (the late Whitney Houston) loathes him on sight. His name is Satin-like Sparkle, a name you might expect to find on a product under your sink-and this silky but dangerous creature feeds poor Sister drugs, beats her and interferes with the trioвЂ™s grand ambitions.

They have ample talent and Sister (Carmen Ejogo) could shimmy her way to fame in a heartbeat, but a treacherous man (Mike Epps) leads her astray. They go by the name вЂњSister and the Sisters,вЂќ not quite as jazzy as The Supremes, but with a ring to it.

Follow a glitzy remake of the 1976 music-heavy film, is about three sisters, one a sex kitten called Sister, the second a tough cookie, the last a shy-boots with the uncommon name of Sparkle ( American Idol winner Jordin Sparks), trying to make it as a girl group.

Sparkle 2012