In case you missed it, last Sunday marked the debut of Lifetime’s highly anticipated biopic, which chronicled the life and career of the late R&B superstar Aaliyah. Despite the issues that arose during the production of the made-for-TV film (Aaliyah’s family was against the movie being made and refused to contribute to the final product), its premiere brought in 3.2 million viewers and generated a high amount of buzz that dominated social media for the evening.
With astronomical ratings and furious word of mouth, is “Aaliyah: The Princess of R&B” a film worthy of its success? Not surprisingly, the answer is no. The emphatic response that the film received on the Internet was largely negative, criticizing the film for its weak plot, poorly done musical sequences and disappointing cast; the latter sparked a series of memes that parody Lifetime’s penchant for poor casting in their biopics.
I normally don’t give Lifetime movies any of my time or attention (except for the “Saved by the Bell” exposé, which was a lapse of judgment on my part), but I figured this one was worth a watch due to all of the hoopla it raised. I knew ahead of time that it would be far from a cinematic masterpiece, but could it really have been that bad? Yes. Yes, it was.
All of the negativity surrounding it was justified: the plot seemed like it was constructed by someone who copied and pasted the information from Aaliyah’s Wikipedia profile. Also, none of her original music was featured in the film (due to her family’s refusal to sign over the rights), so Alexandra Shipp (who portrayed Aaliyah) was left to sing poorly produced, karaoke versions of other people’s music. The cast honestly looked like the producers picked random people off the street and paid them in gum for their services.
However, the biggest misstep that was made had to have been the movie’s handling of the relationship between Aaliyah and her former producer R. Kelly. During the period that they worked together, it was revealed that the two were illegally married for a brief time before the marriage was annulled. The film portrayed the relationship as innocent and “star-crossed” instead of predatory and flat-out wrong (she was 15, and he was 27). The scene in which Aaliyah’s parents find out about their marriage seemed more like an episode of “90210” than a serious confrontation, with Aaliyah and Kelly standing in for Brenda and Dylan.
Simply put, the movie is an embarrassment to the life and legacy of Aaliyah for various reasons. If you’re a fan of her artistry, watch with caution, and try to refrain from becoming too upset. Remember that this is a low-budget effort from Lifetime, the same network that brought us gems such as “The Brittany Murphy Story” and “Liz & Dick” starring Lindsay Lohan and her bad British accent; any semblance of quality or accuracy was thrown out of the window as soon as it was announced.
