'A mixed bag' is the best compliment I can pay this occasionally satisfying but definitely overlong and ultimately incomplete biopic of the legendary Billie Holliday.
Diana Ross typifies this spirit of unevenness in the title role... she'll have a good line or two and a genuine emotional reaction, but then she'll say or do something later that exposes her as the amateur actress she was.
It doesn't help either, that you can always tell when she's lip-syncing whilst performing in the movie (admittedly, she performs them well) on stage. And the less said about a nearly-30 year old adult playing a 14 year-old kid in the prologue, the better. I can only think it was intense lobbying by Motown Enterprises Ltd that got her that much-coveted Oscar nomination.
Aside from Ross, Billie Dee Williams stands out as one of the few men who genuinely cared for Billie throughout her career and Richard Pryor (who I didn't even know was in the film until the credits rolled) has a few good moments as her somewhat unhinged pianist.
Aide from her singing, the script doesn't shy away from Billie's later drug-taking habits, and indeed we get quite a few scenes of her having public meltdowns along with her deteriorating mental state when she can't get her latest fix and even the sight of her arm covered in needle marks at one point.
It never seems to affect her act though, despite her diminishing appearance and sanity her voice never wavers once (she only collapses whilst on stage once). Something tells me this part of the film is less than truthful, but as a glossy Hollywood biopic you have to accept what you're given I suppose.
Certain parts feel very lazy, like the overuse of photo montages instead of actual scenes, and the conclusion, where they obviously wanted to end it on a high note (no pun intended) for Billie, but in doing so skip her tragic death so it just becomes a bog-standard newspaper headline.
A real profile would've covered her entire life warts and all, so finding out that some more 'unsavoury' aspects to her life had been excised felt more than a bit dishonest (this also goes with her time in prison).
It's definitely worth watching at least once, to appreciate Ross's decent if uneven performance, some great songs and how difficult life was back then for black folks to make it in the industry.
Just don't expect the full picture and a somewhat sanitised treatment, and you'll be fine. 6/10.
Diana Ross typifies this spirit of unevenness in the title role... she'll have a good line or two and a genuine emotional reaction, but then she'll say or do something later that exposes her as the amateur actress she was.
It doesn't help either, that you can always tell when she's lip-syncing whilst performing in the movie (admittedly, she performs them well) on stage. And the less said about a nearly-30 year old adult playing a 14 year-old kid in the prologue, the better. I can only think it was intense lobbying by Motown Enterprises Ltd that got her that much-coveted Oscar nomination.
Aside from Ross, Billie Dee Williams stands out as one of the few men who genuinely cared for Billie throughout her career and Richard Pryor (who I didn't even know was in the film until the credits rolled) has a few good moments as her somewhat unhinged pianist.
Aide from her singing, the script doesn't shy away from Billie's later drug-taking habits, and indeed we get quite a few scenes of her having public meltdowns along with her deteriorating mental state when she can't get her latest fix and even the sight of her arm covered in needle marks at one point.
It never seems to affect her act though, despite her diminishing appearance and sanity her voice never wavers once (she only collapses whilst on stage once). Something tells me this part of the film is less than truthful, but as a glossy Hollywood biopic you have to accept what you're given I suppose.
Certain parts feel very lazy, like the overuse of photo montages instead of actual scenes, and the conclusion, where they obviously wanted to end it on a high note (no pun intended) for Billie, but in doing so skip her tragic death so it just becomes a bog-standard newspaper headline.
A real profile would've covered her entire life warts and all, so finding out that some more 'unsavoury' aspects to her life had been excised felt more than a bit dishonest (this also goes with her time in prison).
It's definitely worth watching at least once, to appreciate Ross's decent if uneven performance, some great songs and how difficult life was back then for black folks to make it in the industry.
Just don't expect the full picture and a somewhat sanitised treatment, and you'll be fine. 6/10.