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Glitter
Columbia/Tri-Star // PG-13 // January 15, 2002
List Price: $27.96 [Buy now and save at Amazon]
The Movie:
"Glitter" is one of those films that becomes rather watchable in the way where one might wonder how one film with a workable plot went so wrong. While not quite as terrible as the national joke it seemed to become for a while, "Glitter" starts off weakly and doesn't get any better. I felt rather sorry for Carey, who is obviously trying, but she's also an inexperienced actress dealing with bad material and getting little assistance handling it.
The film stars Carey as singer Billie Frank, whose mother, Lillian Frank (Valarie Pettiford) was forced to give her up at an early age, which is seen in the opening of the picture. The film then fast-forwards to 1983 in New York City, where Maria...er, Billie is hanging out with her friends (Da Brat and Tia Texada) when they're spotted by a manager looking for backup singers for a hugely untalented singer. It's obvious that Billie has the better voice, which is found out one night by DJ "Dice" (Max Beesley), who offers to produce her own record.
Of course, overnight Billie becomes a success. Even this bit of business is weakly handled, as it doesn't really seem believable: all the sudden we find out she's been on the charts for a few weeks. Uh, ok, if you say so. Soon enough, there's a complete change by "Dice", from a nice guy who cared about her success to a jerk that insults her friends. It's a change that's too abrupt, simply following the script's creaky plot devices. On a positive note, this does lead to the funniest scene in the entire film, where the two are in different places, but writing the same song. This resulted in a teenage girl who was sitting a few rows in front of me in the theater to say, "They've got ESP!", which lead to a burst of laughter from the crowd of 15 who had gathered in the 550 seat theater to see the film early one morning on opening weekend.
The film has been compared to the Jerry Bruckheimer picture of the previous Summer, "Coyote Ugly". Not a good picture either, but at least it knew what it was and became mildly silly entertainment. "Glitter", on the other hand, would be helped by at least the addition of some light touches. The entire movie takes itself too seriously and involves too much melodrama - as the film becomes heavier, it starts to fall apart under weight it can't handle. Director Vondie Curtis-Hall doesn't help matters, trying to add flash where flash simply can't help; too many transitions and other touches only serve to pad out the running time. Overuse of slow-motion and some editing tricks becomes distracting.
There's also a strange sequence where Billie is working with a stereotypical music video director where she's offended by his notion that "sex sells". Somehow, "flannel shirt Mariah" from the "Dreamlover" video era might have made this believable. It's a bit harder to buy in this "Heartbreaker"-era Mariah of skimpy clothing (which, interestingly enough, many of the rest of the scenes show - I guess Billie isn't that offended). There's also one sequence where a film producer asks Billie if she's ever thought about acting.
While I've read that Carey desired to be an actress a while ago, "Glitter" seems like material that would end a film career before it even started. A rise-to-stardom Mariah-ish story could have been mildly interesting, if handled right. Instead of showing the steps up the ladder of fame, "Glitter" creaks to a halt when it shifts its attention too heavily on the relationship between "Dice" and Billie, two characters who are blandly written to begin with. Carey's larger-than-life personality seems like it could translate to the screen well, but it hasn't happened here.
While part of the reason why Carey went into acting might have been to keep up with all of the other singers who are doing so, they have handled the transition between talents better. Not only has Jennifer Lopez gotten stronger with every new performance, she (well, more often than not) picks decent and different material. While I still believe that Carey might make something of a film career with considerable work, "Glitter" stands as is; a film that's not quite completely terrible, but it's got some bad laughs during the dramatic scenes and it's not particularly fun or enjoyable otherwise.
The DVD
VIDEO: "Glitter" is presented by Columbia/Tristar in 2.40:1 anamorphic widescreen on one side of a dual-sided disc, while the other side houses a cropped pan & scan presentation of the picture. The anamorphic widescreen edition is a fine effort from the studio, not without a few minor flaws, but otherwise looking about as it did theatrically. Sharpness and detail are very good, but not quite perfect - a few scenes, such as one or two in the clubs, seemed a touch softer than some of the other sequences in the film.
Some minor flaws appear here and there, but nothing that I found particularly distracting. Slight traces of pixelation are apparent once or twice, but thankfully, little or no edge enhancement was seen. The print also appeared to be in good shape (alright, no jokes about a short theatrical run), with only a couple of specks and a tiny scratch that I noticed.
Colors came across looking quite good, with only a few exceptions. Colors usually had a natural and strong appearance, although they seemed a bit heavy in some of the club sequences, as they did when I saw the film in the theater. Black level seemed solid, while flesh tones looked accurate. Not without a few flaws, this is still a nice presentation of Geoffrey Simpson's widescreen cinematography.
SOUND: Say what you will about the movie, but "Glitter" offers a suprisingly good Dolby Digital 5.1 presentation. The film's club sequences really fill the room wonderfully, with the surrounds supporting the front speakers with strong ambience and general reinforcement of the music. Surrounds also kick in during some of the outdoor sequences and transitions, the former providing some nice street sounds, while the later provides some zippy sound effects as we're taken to whereever the next scene is taking place.
Audio quality was fairly strong, as well. Carey's voice sounded terrific, crisply and clearly reaching the high notes. Dialogue in general also sounded natural and easily understood, while the music also came through richly, with nice bass. This certainly isn't going to become a demo presentation that many use, but it's a fine offering of the material.
MENUS:: Sparkly (dare I say a bit cheesy?) animated main menu, complete with music in the background. Sub-menus are a bit basic, but still easily navigated.
EXTRAS::
Commentary: This is a commentary from director Vondie Curtis-Hall, who offers an extremely low-key discussion of the making of the picture. Those looking for apologies or talk about where the film fell apart will not find it here. Instead, the commentary does provide some fairly interesting discussion of the obstacles of filming, such as trying to find enough 80's fashion to outfit an entire cast and extras, as well as his thoughts about working with actors. I really didn't think much worked in "Glitter", but I thought it was somewhat interesting to hear what the director was trying for.
Music Videos: Videos for "Loverboy" (where Carey wears a few wow outfits that show off quite a bit) and "Never Too Far".
Also: Trailers for "Glitter", "Center Stage" and "Dance With Me", as well as filmographies.
Final Thoughts: Some may be interested in renting "Glitter", but not for reasons that the filmmakers would want - such as those curious if the film is really as bad as many sad it was or those looking for unintentional humor. Tristar's DVD provides good audio/video quality, but nothing much in the way of supplements.
"Glitter" is one of those films that becomes rather watchable in the way where one might wonder how one film with a workable plot went so wrong. While not quite as terrible as the national joke it seemed to become for a while, "Glitter" starts off weakly and doesn't get any better. I felt rather sorry for Carey, who is obviously trying, but she's also an inexperienced actress dealing with bad material and getting little assistance handling it.
The film stars Carey as singer Billie Frank, whose mother, Lillian Frank (Valarie Pettiford) was forced to give her up at an early age, which is seen in the opening of the picture. The film then fast-forwards to 1983 in New York City, where Maria...er, Billie is hanging out with her friends (Da Brat and Tia Texada) when they're spotted by a manager looking for backup singers for a hugely untalented singer. It's obvious that Billie has the better voice, which is found out one night by DJ "Dice" (Max Beesley), who offers to produce her own record.
Of course, overnight Billie becomes a success. Even this bit of business is weakly handled, as it doesn't really seem believable: all the sudden we find out she's been on the charts for a few weeks. Uh, ok, if you say so. Soon enough, there's a complete change by "Dice", from a nice guy who cared about her success to a jerk that insults her friends. It's a change that's too abrupt, simply following the script's creaky plot devices. On a positive note, this does lead to the funniest scene in the entire film, where the two are in different places, but writing the same song. This resulted in a teenage girl who was sitting a few rows in front of me in the theater to say, "They've got ESP!", which lead to a burst of laughter from the crowd of 15 who had gathered in the 550 seat theater to see the film early one morning on opening weekend.
The film has been compared to the Jerry Bruckheimer picture of the previous Summer, "Coyote Ugly". Not a good picture either, but at least it knew what it was and became mildly silly entertainment. "Glitter", on the other hand, would be helped by at least the addition of some light touches. The entire movie takes itself too seriously and involves too much melodrama - as the film becomes heavier, it starts to fall apart under weight it can't handle. Director Vondie Curtis-Hall doesn't help matters, trying to add flash where flash simply can't help; too many transitions and other touches only serve to pad out the running time. Overuse of slow-motion and some editing tricks becomes distracting.
There's also a strange sequence where Billie is working with a stereotypical music video director where she's offended by his notion that "sex sells". Somehow, "flannel shirt Mariah" from the "Dreamlover" video era might have made this believable. It's a bit harder to buy in this "Heartbreaker"-era Mariah of skimpy clothing (which, interestingly enough, many of the rest of the scenes show - I guess Billie isn't that offended). There's also one sequence where a film producer asks Billie if she's ever thought about acting.
While I've read that Carey desired to be an actress a while ago, "Glitter" seems like material that would end a film career before it even started. A rise-to-stardom Mariah-ish story could have been mildly interesting, if handled right. Instead of showing the steps up the ladder of fame, "Glitter" creaks to a halt when it shifts its attention too heavily on the relationship between "Dice" and Billie, two characters who are blandly written to begin with. Carey's larger-than-life personality seems like it could translate to the screen well, but it hasn't happened here.
While part of the reason why Carey went into acting might have been to keep up with all of the other singers who are doing so, they have handled the transition between talents better. Not only has Jennifer Lopez gotten stronger with every new performance, she (well, more often than not) picks decent and different material. While I still believe that Carey might make something of a film career with considerable work, "Glitter" stands as is; a film that's not quite completely terrible, but it's got some bad laughs during the dramatic scenes and it's not particularly fun or enjoyable otherwise.
The DVD
VIDEO: "Glitter" is presented by Columbia/Tristar in 2.40:1 anamorphic widescreen on one side of a dual-sided disc, while the other side houses a cropped pan & scan presentation of the picture. The anamorphic widescreen edition is a fine effort from the studio, not without a few minor flaws, but otherwise looking about as it did theatrically. Sharpness and detail are very good, but not quite perfect - a few scenes, such as one or two in the clubs, seemed a touch softer than some of the other sequences in the film.
Some minor flaws appear here and there, but nothing that I found particularly distracting. Slight traces of pixelation are apparent once or twice, but thankfully, little or no edge enhancement was seen. The print also appeared to be in good shape (alright, no jokes about a short theatrical run), with only a couple of specks and a tiny scratch that I noticed.
Colors came across looking quite good, with only a few exceptions. Colors usually had a natural and strong appearance, although they seemed a bit heavy in some of the club sequences, as they did when I saw the film in the theater. Black level seemed solid, while flesh tones looked accurate. Not without a few flaws, this is still a nice presentation of Geoffrey Simpson's widescreen cinematography.
SOUND: Say what you will about the movie, but "Glitter" offers a suprisingly good Dolby Digital 5.1 presentation. The film's club sequences really fill the room wonderfully, with the surrounds supporting the front speakers with strong ambience and general reinforcement of the music. Surrounds also kick in during some of the outdoor sequences and transitions, the former providing some nice street sounds, while the later provides some zippy sound effects as we're taken to whereever the next scene is taking place.
Audio quality was fairly strong, as well. Carey's voice sounded terrific, crisply and clearly reaching the high notes. Dialogue in general also sounded natural and easily understood, while the music also came through richly, with nice bass. This certainly isn't going to become a demo presentation that many use, but it's a fine offering of the material.
MENUS:: Sparkly (dare I say a bit cheesy?) animated main menu, complete with music in the background. Sub-menus are a bit basic, but still easily navigated.
EXTRAS::
Commentary: This is a commentary from director Vondie Curtis-Hall, who offers an extremely low-key discussion of the making of the picture. Those looking for apologies or talk about where the film fell apart will not find it here. Instead, the commentary does provide some fairly interesting discussion of the obstacles of filming, such as trying to find enough 80's fashion to outfit an entire cast and extras, as well as his thoughts about working with actors. I really didn't think much worked in "Glitter", but I thought it was somewhat interesting to hear what the director was trying for.
Music Videos: Videos for "Loverboy" (where Carey wears a few wow outfits that show off quite a bit) and "Never Too Far".
Also: Trailers for "Glitter", "Center Stage" and "Dance With Me", as well as filmographies.
Final Thoughts: Some may be interested in renting "Glitter", but not for reasons that the filmmakers would want - such as those curious if the film is really as bad as many sad it was or those looking for unintentional humor. Tristar's DVD provides good audio/video quality, but nothing much in the way of supplements.
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