Aug 11-17 Whoopi Goldberg Week: She’s become a corny tv lady these days, but let’s not forget that at her peak Whoopi was one of the funniest people alive.

Directed by Bill Duke — that’s right, Sgt. Mac Eliot from Predator — Sister Act 2: Back In the Habit was in theaters just a year after the first movie. Loosely based on the life of Crenshaw High School choir instructor Iris Stevenson, it finds Deloris Van Cartier (Whoopi Goldberg) now a success in Vegas when the sisters she befriended — Mary Robert (Wendy Makkena), Mary Patrick (Kathy Najimy) and Mary Lazarus (Mary Wickes) — visit and tell her that they’re now teaching in the same inner city school she attended. And the kids are, well, wild. They need her help.

Father Maurice (Barnard Hughes) seems nice, but the administrator, Mr. Crisp (James Coburn), just wants to retire. But if the nuns can get a choir together, well…

Rita Louise Watson (Lauryn Hill!) is the star singer, but has to lie to get in, as her mother (Sheryl Lee Ralph) hates music, as her husband and Rita’s father failed and ruined their lives. But you know, all ends well.

Reviewers at the time hated it, but Bill Duke was able to see this movie become a hit with audiences. He said, “The reviewers at that time could not really be linked to our communities or the message. As you know, the faces of the reviewers were very different than the viewers. So I was surprised, but not shocked, because they didn’t get us at the time. They didn’t get the message and did not relate on an emotional level.” It also helped that Hill and Jennifer Love Hewitt became big stars and this movie showed them before they became huge. Stars like Harry Styles, Katy Perry, Colbie Caillat and others were inspired by this movie — and Hill — to become singers.

Goldberg said, “For me, I thought the first movie was just stupid and this one wasn’t much better. When they asked me to do this one, I laughed. But when they agreed to fund Sarafina, I thought, “What the hell, I’ll make some more money off ’em.” But I think it’s fun, I think people like one and two, because they’re kind of the same film but very different.”