Synopsis

From United Artists Releasing:

Following the rise of Aretha Franklin’s career from a child singing in her father’s church’s choir to her international superstardom, Respect is the remarkable true story of Franklin’s journey to find her voice.

Review

I did not come to appreciate Aretha Franklin’s music until she passed away almost 3 years ago in 2018. I’ve noticed I have this weird pattern of not “getting into musicians” until after they’ve died, and Aretha Franklin was no exception. I will say that I absolutely love her music and her personality. I’ve watched several performances of hers on YouTube and have just become enraptured with the idea of a movie about her life. So, when I found out that this movie was getting made, I was very excited. As many of you know, Dreamgirls is my favorite movie of all time, the movie that put Jennifer Hudson on the map and Jennifer Hudson is playing Aretha and I was just over the moon. I’ve been anticipating this film for so long (it was supposed to come out last year but because of Covid it was pushed do you now) and I have to say that while it mostly delivers, I was a tad underwhelmed.

After I saw the film, I tweeted the following:

“Respect was great! I thought Jennifer Hudson was excellent. She makes the film, 100%. I love that they explored some of the darker elements of Aretha’s upbringing/life. I think it was very smart to not let the script drift into hagiography.

I do have to say… I did not like Marlon Wayans in this role. The Genius: Aretha show had the same problem with that character: they cast a comedic actor who I feel is unfit to play this menacing character. I also didn’t LOVE Forest Whitaker, but I still thought he did a fine job. 

Other than those casting choices, I thought the film excelled in many areas, particularly the music (they kind of had to). I’m so glad they chose to record the musical numbers live. It gave the musical numbers a great energy. And I can’t say it enough… JENNIFER HUDSON. Stunning.

I very much enjoyed this film. I’ve been looking forward to it for ages and I’m glad to say it delivers.

JHUD is getting at least an Oscar nomination for this… Mark my words.”

I still stand by everything in those tweets. Let’s start with the script. I thought that it was a very wise decision to delve into some of the darker parts of Aretha’s life. For those of you who may not know, she had a fairly treacherous childhood that did involve an unwanted pregnancy at the age of 12. She struggled with alcoholism. And there were a couple of other things that we don’t have to get into right now. I like that the film did not decide to skip over those elements. They didn’t dive into it as much as I would have appreciated, though. I think in R rating might have benefited this film a little more than the PG-13 because those specific elements of her life were so dark that anything other than an R rating heavily sanitizes it and makes for a slightly inaccurate/incomplete portrayal. So even though it wasn’t touched on as much as I would have liked, I still like that they didn’t try to present a perfect picture of Aretha Franklin. It did not become hagiographic which is good.

I also think, though, that the film doesn’t have enough time to discuss every major aspect of her first 30 years. There were large chunks of her story that were edited out or filled in by a montage. In that respect, I feel that a miniseries would have been more fitting for this story. There was a miniseries made about her life (Genius: Aretha) that premiered earlier this year that I had many problems with and will not dwell on right now, but if this cast and crew made a miniseries from this material, I think that would’ve been the best of both worlds. It was as though the film had too much to do and I don’t know that they handled it as well as they could have. It’s weird, however. It feels as though the film try to cover too much and in doing that covered too little. Side note: I also like that they didn’t spend too much time on her childhood which was a big issue that I had with the miniseries. But I digress.

I think the film the greatest strengths and greatest weaknesses come from its casting choices/performances. We will get to Jennifer Hudson in a second. But let’s start with Marlon Wayans. I did not like Marlon Wayans in this role, as I tweeted. I feel that he was incredibly miscast here. I could never get past the fact that it was Marlon Wayans from White Chicks on the screen. He didn’t fully come into the character for me. The miniseries had a very similar issue. Both the series and the movie decided to cast a comedic actor in this heavily dramatic role and in both cases, I don’t think either of them did a good job. I think many people will think that he did, so I might be in the minority on that. I also think that Forest Whitaker wasn’t the best choice to play Aretha‘s father. He never felt like a preacher to me. There was just something off about his performance. I will say, in favor of the series, that I think Courtney B. Vance who played Rev. CL Franklin in the series did a better job than Forest Whitaker in this film. I also think that the man who played James Cleveland in the series did a better job than Tituss Burgess here. I am surprised they didn’t use his cheater more as well. I thought that Audra McDonald was fantastic, while underused. She’s in the film for maybe a total of six minutes, but her two scenes were two of my favorites in the whole movie. I also thought that the girl who played young Aretha very good job… Much better than the girl who portrayed her in the series. Now… To Jennifer. Jennifer Hudson absolutely makes this movie. If she wasn’t in this movie, I would be telling you to not watch this. I thought she was stellar. She was able to perfectly capture the spirit of Aretha at her highs and lows. And her voice is just beyond. She will be in the awards conversation this year and she should receive at least an Oscar nomination for this performance. She was excellent.

To the other aspects of the film, I had no qualms with anything else. I thought that the musical numbers were done well. Interestingly enough, my favorite performances were those done outside of a performance context. The songs sung in studios had and much more raw energy to them which I liked. However, I will say that the performance of Amazing Grace at the end of the film was my favorite of all of them. I’m just mad they didn’t go into the refrain LOL. On that note, I thought it was a very wise decision to record all the musical numbers live. One of my biggest pet peeves in musicals is poor lip-synching, so I’m glad this film was able to evade that. I thought the costume design was excellent. I would not think it far-fetched for a nomination to be in the costume designer’s future. The production design and cinematography were fine. I didn’t think there was anything special about either of those, in all honesty.

Overall, I enjoyed Respect. I think it fell into too many of the traps/conventions of the music biopic, while at the same time was able to evade the worst conventions. This is a heartwarming film. The tribute at the end was a very nice and touching way to close out the film. The music is great, too. But, if there was any reason for you to see this film, it is to behold the marvel that is Jennifer Hudson’s performance. I would recommend this film based on that alone.