Really let down.

Rating: 3/10 (30 December 2006)

I was really let down by this movie. After everything we had heard, my wife and I were expecting it to be really great.
The acting was great. The story itself was interesting; obviously loosely modeled on Barry Gordy and The Supremes and a few other R&B stories from back in the day.
But... it just didn't hang together well for me. The film doesn't seem to know what kind of film it is. At times, it seems to want to be a "realistic" film like a "What's Love Got To Do With It" or a "Buddy Holly Story" but then at other times, it tries to be a musical like a "Chicago" or "Rent." For me, it starts off like a realistic film and it was jarring to me when people started breaking out in song for no reason 15-20 minutes into the film. It totally knocked me out of the movie. It seems to switch back and forth between types of films almost willy-nilly.
Now, I went into this not knowing that it had been a Broadway musical. My wife knew and she found it disturbing also.
She also didn't like the fact that there was very little that was humorous or fun in the movie. The movie seems to get darker and darker as it goes on and there's no let-up. I hadn't noticed that till she mentioned it.
I would have given this a much lower score if it hadn't been for the acting. (I also didn't particularly like the songs or the way the music was presented. But I'm a songwriter so I might be a bit overly critical on that issue.)