History Film / SisterAct

* PragmaticAdaptation: The "Deloris getting the nuns to improve the neighborhood" and "Mother Superior threatening to quit" subplots are dropped. Deloris is seen on by Curtis on [=TV=] because the nuns singing made the news.

* AccidentalMisnaming[=/=]MaliciousMisnaming: Mr. Crisp at first has difficulty remembering the "Clarence" in Sister Mary Clarence. Once he learns she is not a real nun, he stops trying to remember her given pseudonym and just calls her "Sister Mary Fake."

* ContinuityNod: Sister Mary Clarence's cover is blown when [[spoiler: Mr. Crisp finds a copy of ''Rolling Stone'' magazine with Deloris on the cover]], which appeared during the credits of the first film.

* EveryoneHasStandards: However unruly and eccentric most of the other students are in their own ways, many of them still find Jamal's Afro-pride speeches OTT and ridiculous. Also, as troublesome as Rita is, she does help stop a fight between Jamal and Frankie by pushing the former down onto his seat.

* FailedASpotCheck: The friars apparently never met or heard of Deloris van Cartier, despite being in the same city as the convent she previously stayed in and working with the same nuns as she did. Were there no conversations about Deloris before the nuns decided to recruit her? The Pope came to San Francisco specifically to hear Deloris' choir! Given that, Mr. Crisp should have heard of her as well.
** The Pope did not come to San Francisco specifically to hear the choir. He was in San Fran anyway and requested a concert.

* PrayerOfMalice: Played with during the climax. When the helicopter pilot refuses to fly the nuns to Reno, they pray, out loud and right in front of him in passive-aggressive fashion, that God will be kinder to him in his own hour of need than he was to them in theirs. They needle him by committee until he changes his mind.

* SpellMyNameWithAnS: Deloris van Cartier, according to the subtitles. While the surname was chosen, it seems that her given name was spelled that way even as a child.

* KitchenChase: After Deloris witnesses the murder, her getaway takes her through the casino's kitchen. It happens again during the climax, when she runs away from Joey and Willy (after a GroinAttack delivered during prayer), but rather than merely shoving her way through, knocking workers down, and causing all manner of messes, [[CharacterDevelopment this time she is more careful]] and stops to make (brief) apologies whenever she can't avoid someone.

* KitchenChase: After Deloris witnesses the murder, her getaway takes her through the casino's kitchen.

* MagicalNegro: Deloris, especially as the TokenBlack of the convent in the first film.
** This could be seen as an inverted MightyWhitey trope, since Deloris is the protagonist (unlike most MagicalNegro characters), and she takes over the choir by proving she is better at it than any other nuns.

* ChekhovsGun: The songs "My Guy" and "I Will Follow Him" that were sung by Deloris and her backup singers are used again by the nun's choir but with different lyrics and arrangements.

* FantasyForbiddingFather: Distaff example. Rita's mother is determined to squash her dreams of becoming a singer. She won't even allow her to join the school choir as an extra curricular because she thinks she should be spending all her time studying to get into a good college. Rita's mother doesn't realize that colleges are more likely to accept her daughter if she presents things like being in the choir.

* ActorAllusion: This isn't the first time Creator/HarveyKeitel played [[{{Film/Bugsy}} a mobster]].

* AbridgedForChildren: A one-act adaptation of the musical titled "Sister Act Jr." can be performed by schools. This version removes all references to guns (Ernie dies offstage in an ambiguous way, implied to have been thrown out a window), most death references except for Ernie's death, all uses of inappropriate language and Deloris's various blasphemous uses of God and Jesus's names in vain, and much of Curtis's threatening behavior in general. Some songs including "When I Find My Baby" are cut entirely, but Curtis now sings in "Lady in the Long Black Dress" instead of exiting the stage just before the song.

One of the most popular comedies of TheNineties, and up there with ''Film/Ghost1990'' as one of Whoopi Goldberg's most famous roles, with a cast of beloved character actors and a magnificently long-suffering Maggie Smith as the Mother Superior. The film also drew praise from both Catholics and actual nuns, as the film portrays Catholicism in general and nuns in particular as warm, welcoming, and human (as opposed to some of the other [[NunsAreSpooky popular]] [[NaughtyNuns portrayals]]). The biggest draw is probably the music itself, which reinterprets such classics as "My Guy" into a religious format. In 2006, the movie was [[ScreenToStageAdaptation made into a stage musical]], with songs by Music/AlanMenken.

* ImADoctorNotAPlaceholder: Father Thomas once tells Deloris that he has a message for her despite working for the Catholic Church, not for FedEx.

* PunBasedTitle: The term "sister act" originally comes from the vaudeville circuit, referring to a performance by two or more biological sisters. Here, it's used to refer to nuns.

* BigBad: Vince, who will do anything to stay out of prison, killing anyone who could rat him out including Deloris.

** Tyler has never heard of Music/TheSupremes, but he does at least know who [[FaceOfTheBand Diana Ross]] is. Justified that he's just a teenager unfamiliar with 1960s girl groups.

* PunBasedTitle: The term "sister act" originally comes from the vaudeville circuit, referring to a performance by two or more sisters in the biological sense. Here, it gets repurposed to refer to nuns.

* ImADoctorNotAPlaceholder: Father Thomas once tells Deloris that he have a message for her despite working for the catholic Church, not for FedEx.

* ImADoctorNotAPlaceholder: Father Thomas once tells Deloris that he have a message for her despite working for the catholic Church, not for Fedex.