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The Aretha Franklin biopic, “Respect” ends with footage of the real Queen of Soul bringing down the house at the Kennedy Center Honors tribute to Carole King . Re plays the piano and sings “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman,” the composition King co-wrote. At the climax of this performance, Re tosses her fur coat to the stage floor with a true diva’s reckless abandon. Having a biopic close with its actual subject is an expected trope, perhaps the only one not viciously mocked by the superb parody “ Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story ,” and I usually find it to be an unnecessary swipe at the actor who’s spent the last two-plus hours trying to convince you they were that person. Any spell cast by the performance is suddenly broken by the arrival of the genuine article. 

Here, the real Re shows up just after her portrayer, Jennifer Hudson , swaggers into that Los Angeles church to record Franklin’s biggest album, Amazing Grace . I remembered that moment from the 1972 documentary film of the concert, which sat unfinished for almost 50 years before its world premiere in 2018. In my review , I said that movie took me back to church. Watching Hudson sing the title song, decked in the same outfit and hairstyle, I felt similarly transcended. Casting a fellow belter from the church as one of the great products of a gospel upbringing is an incontrovertible requirement, especially if the actor is going to be singing her own songs. And Hudson doesn’t just sing; if I may use the vernacular, Jennifer Hudson  sangs . But it’s in her recreation of that church entrance that she finally goes “full Aretha,” that is, we see everything we know and love about this icon. So when director Liesl Tommy switches to that Kennedy Center footage, it feels less like a usurping and more like the final scene in an origin story.

“Respect” reminded me of “ Lady Sings the Blues ,” the 1972 vehicle where Diana Ross portrayed Billie Holiday . As an analogy, this is to that film what Cynthia Erivo ’s Franklin miniseries "Genius: Aretha" is to last year’s “ The United States vs. Billie Holiday .” (Full disclosure: I disliked Erivo’s show intensely despite her being an incredible singer.) Like Ross’ film, this is a pure Hollywood treatment of its material that benefits from its shiny presentation as much as it benefits from a spectacular lead performance. I don’t think there’s a scene in Sidney J. Furie ’s movie where I didn’t know I was watching Diana Ross as Billie Holiday—and Hudson wisely follows Ross’ lead in not attempting an imitation of her character’s unmistakable voice. But, I felt the essence of Holiday being channeled onscreen.

Hudson does something similar here, and admittedly that may not be enough for some to save “Respect” from the genre trappings it adheres to. I tend to prefer interpretations like Anthony Hopkins in “ Nixon ” to the slavish imitation of something like Rami Malek in “ Bohemian Rhapsody .” But there is only one Aretha Franklin, and as a lifelong fan, I wasn’t sure I would be able to surrender here. Plus, the screenplay by Tracey Scott Wilson has some clunky and overfamiliar dramatic moments, and occasionally keeps her lead character’s pain at an arms’ length that weakens just how triumphant the real story is. Yet, Hudson is this film’s savior. She puts it on her shoulders like a wounded comrade, carries it off the battlefield to safety, and nurses it back to health. The tagline says “Jennifer Hudson is Aretha Franklin,” but in truth, it should say “Jennifer Hudson is  this movie .”

Laying the groundwork for Hudson is Skye Dakota Turner , who plays the young Aretha in the early scenes of “Respect.” In her short screen time, she skillfully telegraphs both the joys and the trauma that will influence the adult version of her character. A born performer, she holds the audience in the palm of her hand when Re’s father, Rev. C.L. Franklin ( Forest Whitaker ) drags her out of bed to perform at a party filled with Black performer royalty like Dinah Washington ( Mary J. Blige in a short, effective cameo). “She’s only 10, but her voice is going on 30,” we’re told. Turner’s reactions to Audra McDonald (in an underwritten part as Franklin’s mother) make a later scene between Hudson and McDonald more powerful than anything in the script. Her performance appropriately haunts the film.

There’s a fair amount of ugliness in Franklin’s story—sexual assault, domestic abuse, alcoholism—and it’s to the film’s credit that it resists the temptation to treat these issues salaciously. But “Respect” never goes deeper than a surface-level exploration of how these traumas affected Franklin. They’re referred to as “the demons,” and kind of left at that. This makes it harder to understand something like her relationship with the abusive Ted White ( Marlon Wayans ), a man her father immediately tags as bad news because he correctly sees a reflection of his own egregious sins. Wayans is a better actor than films like “A Haunted House” indicate, but he’s not adept at balancing a charming exterior with a rotten core; someone like Larenz Tate would have brought that more effectively to this role. Like so many things, White is best summed up by an Aretha Franklin song lyric. In this case, it’s the succinctly brilliant opening lines of “I Never Loved A Man”: “You’re a no good heartbreaker, you’re a liar and you’re a cheat. And I don’t know why I let you do these things to me.”

That song features in one of those biopic tropes where the singer seems to pull a song out of thin air. Except here, it works because “Respect” uses it to frame Franklin’s improvisational and arrangement skills. The one moment we see her writing a song, it’s only the skeleton of her bluesy masterpiece “Dr. Feelgood.” Hudson captures the humble side of Franklin in the scene where she sings “Ain’t No Way,” a composition by her sister, Carolyn ( Hailey Kilgore ). “Show me how to sing your song,” she says, fully immersed in the collaboration. (This performance is also the closest Hudson comes to an approximation of the real thing.) There’s so much music here, being written, arranged, and performed onscreen, that “Respect” almost plays like a musical.

Though this is the lead actor’s show all the way, a few supporting performance stand out. Tituss Burgess seems like an odd choice for Rev. James Cleveland until you remember the mischievous twinkle in the late legend’s eye. And Marc Maron makes for a very good Jerry Wexler, but he didn’t endear himself to me as much as Curtis Armstrong ’s portrayal of fellow Atlantic Records alum Ahmet Ertegun in “ Ray .” Whitaker is pretty much a caricature, but he masterfully captures the pious, bougie hypocrisy that emanated from every preacher I’ve ever met in my life.

These actors keep things moving while you’re marking off your “Walk Hard” trope bingo cards. You won’t have enough spaces to yell “BINGO!” but no matter.  Jennifer Hudson can sing  and “Respect” is at its best when it lets her do just that. Whether it’s in a nightgown or in the full, glorious regalia Aretha Franklin adorned in her concert appearances, Hudson performs with the same tireless intensity Re was known for throughout her career. It’s a damn good performance and this is a damn entertaining movie. It’s going to be a hit, and like many a flawed but beloved classic, it’s gonna play on cable for decades. 

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Respect (2021)

Rated PG-13 for mature thematic content, strong language including racial epithets, violence, suggestive material, and smoking.

145 minutes

Jennifer Hudson as Aretha Franklin

Forest Whitaker as C. L. Franklin

Marlon Wayans as Ted White

Audra McDonald as Barbara Franklin

Mary J. Blige as Dinah Washington

Marc Maron as Jerry Wexler

Tituss Burgess as Reverend Dr. James Cleveland

Tate Donovan as John Hammond

• Liesl Tommy

Writer (story by)

• Callie Khouri
• Tracey Scott Wilson

Cinematographer

• Kramer Morgenthau
• Avril Beukes
• Kris Bowers

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‘Respect’ Review: Giving a Queen Her Propers

Jennifer Hudson plays Aretha Franklin in a movie that follows many of the usual biographical beats but finds its own groove.

By Manohla Dargis

Ray Charles said that Aretha Franklin “sang from her inners.” For her father, C.L. Franklin, she was “a stone singer.” That’s a good description for a great singer whose voice did something that even some brilliant, technically virtuosic vocalists can’t do. When Franklin was at her most sublime, her voice seemed to give shape to the entirety of human feeling — to the joy and the despair — so much so that it seemed as if she were birthing a twinned version of herself with each breath and soul-stirring note.

The new drama “ Respect ” is a march-of-time fictionalization of Franklin’s life. Attractively cast and handsomely mounted — Jennifer Hudson plays the queen — it is a solid, sanitized, unfailingly polite portrait. It conforms to the familiar biopic arc: the artist begins humbly; reaches towering heights (artistic, commercial, maybe both); suffers a setback (bad lovers, addiction); only to rise higher still. In album titles, the movie flows to the beat of Franklin’s discography from “The Electrifying Aretha Franklin” to “Laughing on the Outside,” “Spirit in the Dark” and “Get It Right.”

Taken as a whole, the movie — directed by Liesl Tommy from a script by Tracey Scott Wilson — doesn’t hold you firmly, though it has its moments. First, it has to dispatch with the standard preliminaries, including Aretha’s childhood, with its crackling tensions and cautiously muted torments. It’s a story that’s been told before, including by the Franklin biographer David Ritz. Here that life is often in soft focus, and generally sprinkled with tears rather than drenched. Even so, it is catnip to watch the young Aretha (Skye Dakota Turner) wander her family’s house late at night, smiling and hailing partygoers she calls out to as “Uncle Duke” (as in Ellington) and “Aunt Ella” (Ms. Fitzgerald to us mortals).

Tommy, a theater director making her feature film debut, handles the material and its many moving parts with assurance. “Respect” opens in Detroit in 1952, where the young Aretha is living with her siblings under the stern eye of their father, C.L. (Forest Whitaker). A legendary Baptist minister and friend to Martin Luther King Jr. (Gilbert Glenn Brown), C.L. lords over his house with imposing hauteur and an unpredictable temper. Also sternly minding the brood is his mother (Kimberly Scott), who’s helping raise the children. Their mother, Barbara (Audra McDonald), a saintly figure in amber, has split from her husband and lives elsewhere, and clearly has Aretha’s heart.

Everyone and everything in “Respect” looks good if not too movie-perfect. The rooms seem lived in and the people feel real, none more so than Mary J. Blige, who, as Dinah Washington, briefly sets the movie ablaze. Oddly, a showdown between Aretha and Dinah is borrowed from a confrontation Washington had with Etta James. Perhaps that was to give the movie juice, because otherwise the first chunk slides into the sluggish and dutiful. A distinct exception is a shocking, dimly lit image of the young Aretha that made me gasp. It’s a simple, devastating vision of trauma that lingers even as the story motors on and continues to hit the biographical markers: Hello, Jerry Wexler (Marc Maron).

“Respect” succeeds in doing exactly what is expected of it. You may argue with this or that filmmaking choice and regret its overly smooth edges, but it does give you a sense of Franklin as a historical figure, a crossover success story and a full-throttle, fur-draped diva. (As a mother, she remains M.I.A.) Mostly, it gives you her music, with its passion and power, lyricism and schmaltz. Long after they fell off the charts, these are songs that light you up — with feelings, memories — when you hear them. You sing along with them in your head and, after the credits roll, you keep on singing (and murdering) them.

A line in one of Ritz’s books on Franklin sheds light on the challenges of transposing her complicated life to the screen. “The pain stayed silent in all areas except music, where, magnificently,” Ritz wrote, “it formed a voice that said it all.” The movie has a tough time handling this quiet, and even when Hudson takes over, the character remains frustratingly vague. She’s misty rather than mysterious, maybe because for too long she is drifting along rather than steering her own course. When she walks into Columbia Records, escorted by her father, she is an unanswered question; the puzzlement only deepens when C.L. orders Aretha to stand up and twirl for a surprised record executive.

Things vastly improve once the adult Aretha sits down with some session players and starts pulling apart the songs she will rebuild, discovering “her true voice,” as Franklin’s sister Carolyn (Hailey Kilgore) once put it. Hudson is a deeply appealing screen presence, and it’s a pleasure to watch her just walk into a room. She doesn’t look or sound like Franklin, but she manages the role confidently and with a pure singing voice that more than holds its own. She never feels possessed by Aretha, even when she’s making you rhythmically sway in your seat. Yet Hudson also manages what memorable singers do: she transports you, pulling you alongside her as she takes you up, up and away.

That’s a nice place to be (and to feel), even intermittently, because it’s then that Aretha Franklin flickers before you. She died in 2018 at 76 and her life was filled with agonies that the movie seems anxious to attenuate or ignore, as if the depth of her pain and its rawness might tarnish her legacy. That’s too bad but it doesn’t damage this movie, which finds an enjoyable groove as Aretha falters and triumphs anew. In the end, it is the music and your love for her that keeps you going and watching. With their hooks and oceans of feeling, Franklin’s songs worked on you and worked you over. They entered our bodies and souls, our cultural and personal DNA, becoming part of the soundtrack for our lives.

Respect Rated PG-13 for language, violence and child pregnancy. Running time: 2 hours 25 minutes. In theaters.

Manohla Dargis has been the co-chief film critic since 2004. She started writing about movies professionally in 1987 while earning her M.A. in cinema studies at New York University, and her work has been anthologized in several books. More about Manohla Dargis

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Fandango Premiere: Early Access

Exclusive: jennifer hudson reveals how she became aretha franklin for respect, see a preview of our exclusive chat with the oscar®-winner before watching the full interview during a special early screening of respect on august 8th..

TAGGED AS: Biopics , Drama , films , movies , Music , Musical , Musicals

It’s one of the most hotly anticipated anticipated performances of the year in one of the most hotly anticipated movies: Academy Award®-winner Jennifer Hudson as Aretha Franklin in  Respect . And Rotten Tomatoes was fortunate enough to sit down with Hudson for an extended and exclusive early interview all about how she embodied the the heart, soul, and voice of the iconic singer.

Hudson was hand-selected by the late Queen of Soul to play her in the upcoming biopic, and early word is that she knocks it out of the park, delivering a stirring performance that’s already earning awards buzz in the industry.

In her exclusive Rotten Tomatoes interview, as part of our  Becoming  series, Hudson reveals how she channeled Franklin’s spirit, onstage and off; connected with her activist drive; used the incredible costumes of Clint Ramos to help her inhabit the character; and found a way to deliver iconic Aretha performances that honored the icon but also allowed Hudson to add her own spin.

Above, you can watch a snippet of the interview to get a taste of Hudson’s process. To see the full discussion and to learn more about how Hudson became Aretha Franklin from the actress herself, join us at a special Fandango Premiere: Early Access screening of  Respect  on August 8 th . There, you’ll not only be among the first people in the world to see  Respect , but you’ll be treated to an exclusive pre-show that includes the full  Becoming  interview.

Respect is the feature-film debut of acclaimed stage director Liesl Tommy, who has assembled an all-star cast that includes, in addition to Hudson, Forest Whitaker as Franklin’s father, Audra McDonald as her mother, Marlon Wayans as her husband, Ted White, and Mary J. Blige as 1950s jazz legend Dinah Washington.

And, just as importantly for fans of the Queen of Soul, the “set list” includes “Think,” “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman,” “Respect” – of course – and many more.

You can see, hear, and dance to Respect in theaters everywhere from August 13 th or get the jump on the world and catch it at a special FP: Early Access screening on August 8 th .

Respect is showing at Fandango Premiere: Early Access screenings on August 8 th – buy tickets now. The movie is in theaters everywhere August 13 th .

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Review: ‘Respect’ is an enjoyable ode to Aretha Franklin, biopic clichés and all

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The Times is committed to reviewing theatrical film releases during the COVID-19 pandemic . Because moviegoing carries risks during this time, we remind readers to follow health and safety guidelines as outlined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and local health officials .

There are moments when “Respect,” an uneven, prosaic but affecting new movie starring Jennifer Hudson as a young Aretha Franklin, comes close to pinpointing something true and revealing about its subject’s art. That may sound like faint praise, but it’s closer than many musician biopics get. Watch enough and their clichés start to sound like greatest hits: the troubled childhood marked by flashes of genius; the record deals and album cover montages; the marriages torn asunder by addiction, abuse and the ravages of fame. The music becomes a soundtrack at best and an afterthought at worst, something to paper over the gaps between traumas and milestones.

“Respect,” glossily produced, skillfully performed and notably developed by Franklin herself before her death in 2018 , doesn’t entirely avoid these traps. But as directed by Liesl Tommy, making a solid feature debut, it rarely stumbles right into them. The script, by playwright and TV writer Tracey Scott Wilson, may be a thinner, more flattering account than this year’s unauthorized miniseries “Genius: Aretha,” but it also makes a virtue of some of its conventions, investing well-worn notes with fresh reserves of emotion. That’s fitting, insofar as part of Franklin’s brilliance lay in her ability to riff on well-loved standards; her 1972 gospel album, “Amazing Grace,” the production of which draws the story to a close, is a transcendent example. The song that gives the movie its title is another.

“That’s Otis Redding’s song,” someone protests in the early stages of Aretha’s soon-to-be-definitive reworking. (“Otis who?” comes the eventual rejoinder.) The unveiling of that 1967 all-timer provides a rousing mid-movie payoff that Hudson, whom Franklin personally selected for the role , tears into with unsurprising aplomb. But in some ways, the songwriting scene that precedes it is even more enjoyable: Aretha is up late with her sisters, Carolyn (Hailey Kilgore) and Erma (Saycon Sengbloh), teasing out the beats and flourishes that will make this version so memorable, including the infectious chorus of “Ree, Ree, Ree, Ree” — a Ree-petition derived from Aretha’s childhood nickname.

Did it really happen that way? Did Aretha’s caddish first husband and manager, Ted White (played here by a terrific Marlon Wayans), really come storming out of the bedroom, grumbling about the lateness of the hour? Who knows. Like a lot of scenes in Wilson’s script (drawn from a story she’s credited with alongside Callie Khouri), it feels neatly constructed to reinforce bedrock themes. It reminds us that while Franklin’s spellbinding talent was nurtured by her family’s collaborative musicianship, there were a lot of men who tried to control that talent, the very men who most needed to hear “Respect” and its mighty blast of defiance.

They included Aretha’s influential father, the Rev. C.L. Franklin (an imposing Forest Whitaker), a pillar of the Black church in 1950s Detroit and an embodiment of the tightly interwoven forces — family, religion, activism, music — that will shape Aretha and nearly tear her apart. In the opening scene, he trots out his extraordinarily talented 10-year-old daughter (a very good Skye Dakota Turner) to sing and wow the crowd at one of his house parties. But it’s Aretha’s New York-based mother, the gospel singer Barbara Siggers Franklin (Audra McDonald), who leaves the deeper impression, warning her not to let her father or anyone else exploit her gift — and a gift it is, to be given back to God and God alone.

The rest of the movie will chart Aretha’s flight from that core spiritual truth and her overdue, triumphant return to it. Bouncing from Detroit to Birmingham, Ala., to New York City and beyond, it’s a prodigal journey paved with chart-topping highs and soul-crushing lows, starting with Barbara’s untimely death, which sends the young Aretha into silence for weeks. She finds her voice again at her father’s pulpit, morphing in one sequence from the sweet-voiced Turner into the full-throated Hudson as the camera swirls ecstatically around her. (The widescreen cinematography is by Kramer Morgenthau.)

Finding her voice as an artist, however, will prove more difficult. And Hudson’s tricky, impressive, fitfully persuasive performance seems to embody that difficulty almost too well. It’s not just that Hudson, even when sporting a ’60s updo and clad in Clint Ramos’ radiant costumes, is less physically evocative of Franklin than, say, Cynthia Erivo was in “Genius: Aretha.” Imitation can be the sincerest form of flattening, and like Diana Ross in “Lady Sings the Blues” (or, more recently, Renée Zellweger in “Judy” ), Hudson wisely pursues emotional truth over exacting mimicry. And her vocals are unsurprisingly superb; while you can sometimes hear her strain for the upper register that Franklin conquered so effortlessly, her singing is as electric and fully felt here as in “Dreamgirls,” the movie that won her an Oscar 15 years ago.

Indeed, as in “Dreamgirls,” Hudson seems to express her character’s feelings more vividly in song than in dialogue — hardly a fatal flaw in a musical, though it does leave a nagging emotional vagueness at the heart of some of the more straightforward dramatic scenes. That’s partly by design: If the aim is to capture the spirit rather than the letter of Franklin’s immense presence, that spirit in “Respect” is still unformed. The Aretha we see is calculating, hesitant and sometimes even deferential, not yet possessed of the strong artistic identity and music-industry savvy that would define her reign as the Queen of Soul.

Asked what kind of music she wants to sing, Aretha confesses, “I want hits. I just want hits.” So do the men who help and hinder her, starting with her father, who orchestrates her entry into the biz and curtails her participation in the protests led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (Gilbert Glenn Brown), a close family friend. Aretha escapes her father’s clutches by marrying the wheeling-and-dealing Ted, but he turns out to be just as domineering and considerably more abusive. A deal with Columbia Records, where she works with producer John Hammond (Tate Donovan), will pull Aretha in several directions, resulting in a string of records with little clear sense of musical purpose.

One of the slyer insights of “Respect” is that for a while, Franklin’s great versatility — her ability to sing anything and everything — is also an obstacle, one that she won’t surmount until she teams with Atlantic Records and the legendary producer Jerry Wexler (a sly, affectionate turn by Marc Maron). He sends Aretha to record with a scrappy all-white band in Muscle Shoals, Ala., a decision that Ted nearly derails in scenes marked by a dangerous mix of racial tensions and clashing male egos. But the creative and commercial payoffs are undeniable. Hudson’s soft-spoken Aretha surges to life — and so does the movie — during the recording sessions, whether she’s tweaking the arrangement on her first big hit, “I Never Loved a Man (the Way I Love You)” or forging an unexpected camaraderie with the Muscle Shoals crew.

In these scenes, Hudson captures something of Aretha’s brilliance as not only a singer but also a songwriter, someone whose collaborative instincts and deep musical knowledge reinforce every line, beat and trilling glissando. There’s more feeling, more insight into who she is in these performances — which include “Ain’t No Way,” “(You Make Me Feel Like a) Natural Woman” and a sadly truncated “I Say a Little Prayer” — than in the rote, lurching scenes of domestic discord that eventually set in, as Aretha’s marriage to Ted disintegrates and her mounting struggles with alcohol take centerstage.

“Respect” is less than persuasive as an addiction drama and vague in its sense of Franklin as a political figure, some nods to her performance at Dr. King’s funeral and her support for Angela Davis aside. But there’s an admirable discretion in the way Tommy and Wilson handle certain other aspects of their heroine’s trauma: Rather than rubbing the camera in her experiences of physical and sexual abuse, they reveal those experiences in increments, using staccato flashbacks that suggest the return of repressed memories — or, as they’re referred to here, her “demons.”

Movingly, “Respect” also acknowledges her angels. Those guardians take many forms, some of them prominently featured in the movie’s splendid ensemble: McDonald’s Barbara is one of them, as is another legend, Dinah Washington (Mary J. Blige), who gives Aretha the best tough-love pep talk imaginable. And then there’s her recommitment to gospel and God with “Amazing Grace,” a landmark that was reconsecrated a few years ago with the release of the long-buried documentary of the same title. That film remains by no small margin the greatest Aretha Franklin movie ever, and it throws this one’s achievements and limitations into sharp relief. “Respect” is fine, fitfully rousing, even respectable. And sometimes, it’s something more.

'Respect'

Rating: PG-13, for mature thematic content; strong language including racial epithets, violence and suggestive material; and smoking Running time: 2 hours, 24 minutes Playing: Starts Aug. 13 in general release

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This Aretha Franklin biopic is conventional, except when Jennifer Hudson opens her mouth to sing

One of the finest sequences in “Respect,” a biopic about Aretha Franklin starring Jennifer Hudson, is when the singer and producer Jerry Wexler (Marc Maron) are in the legendary Fame recording studio in Muscle Shoals, Ala. They’re working on a song called “I Never Loved a Man,” with Aretha noodling different riffs on the piano as the house band tentatively joins in. “Let’s find another pocket,” Wex says at one point. She does, and the result makes musical history.

As a movie, “Respect” resides in a clearly delineated pocket: This is cinematic portraiture at its most conventional, schematic, occasionally starchy and often maddeningly rote. The movie begins in 1952, when as a 10-year-old prodigy, Aretha is routinely roused from sleep to sing for the Saturday night parties thrown by her father, the powerful and prosperous Baptist preacher C.L. Franklin (Forest Whitaker). The fact that the revelers in attendance include Dinah Washington, Ella Fitzgerald and “Uncle Duke” (as in Ellington), doesn’t faze young Ree: She belts out “My Baby Likes to Bebop” with the self-possession of a seasoned pro. “She’s 10, but her voice is goin’ on 30, honey,” one guest observes.

The young actress who plays Aretha in these early scenes, Skye Dakota Turner, is blessed with impressive pipes. Soon enough, her character has grown into a teenager and gone on the road with her father, touring the South with Martin Luther King Jr. In a gracefully staged passage, young Aretha begins singing a hymn in a Birmingham church, with the camera panning through the sanctuary. By the time it circles back, it lands on Hudson, whose Aretha might be older and in even stronger voice, but is no less shy, wounded and undefended than she was as a little girl.

Director Liesl Tommy, working from a script by Tracey Scott Wilson and a story Wilson wrote with Callie Khouri, acknowledges the sources of Aretha’s pain, but she does not dwell on them: Aretha’s absent and adored mother (played by Audra McDonald) dies suddenly just before the girl’s 11th birthday; she is subject to sexual abuse that is suggested simply by a closed door and her confused, frightened face. She gives birth to two sons by the time she’s 16, but we’re never shown the circumstances of those pregnancies.

In many ways, “Respect” is just as taciturn as its subject: an artistic genius who throughout the film remains a deeply enigmatic, largely unreachable figure. The film’s most explosive scenes are those in which the controlling men in her life — C.L., her manager and first husband Ted White (Marlon Wayans), Fame studio chief Rick Hall (Myk Watford), Wexler and Columbia Records producer John Hammond (Tate Donovan) — argue and even come to physical blows over her, while Aretha remains still and obedient, her eyes downcast, her lips steadfastly sealed.

The only time she’s able to shut up the men around her is when she sings, her phenomenal voice and impeccable phrasing and judgment reducing them to dumbfounded awe. Hudson imbues Franklin with enormous sympathy during the narrative chapters of “Respect,” but she isn’t given much to play as such an inward, self-contained, in some ways shutdown character. But in the musical interludes, she comes gloriously into her own in a performance for the ages. Aretha Franklin reportedly handpicked Hudson to play her in the movie of her life, and no wonder: Hudson’s turn in “Respect” is the kind of creative — even spiritual — mind-meld that sends a chill down the spine and a catch to the throat.

So, while viewers watch the inevitable rise-rock bottom-redemption arc on screen — all set against an attractive period backdrop and embodied by an able cast of supporting actors — they may find themselves craving the next of “Respect’s” meticulously staged musical numbers, which include snippets of the soignee jazz standards Hammond mistakenly tried to force her into at Columbia, and then those miraculous hits she mined with Wexler in Muscle Shoals, the gospel-tinged rhythm and blues songs that invented a genre and made Aretha Franklin the Queen of Soul. Maron injects welcome wit into an otherwise sober-minded film with Wexler’s ham-and-egging routines; once Aretha begins to vibe with keyboard player Spooner Oldham (David Simpson), the ensuing chemistry is nothing less than spellbinding.

“Respect” revisits the expected triumphs, including early gigs in Amsterdam and Paris that almost instantly became the stuff of myth; Tommy re-creates these moments with exquisite detail, right down to the flowers piling up at Aretha’s feet while she sings “Chain of Fools” at the Concertgebouw. Back in the United States, King is assassinated and she sings “Precious Lord” at his funeral, another milestone performance that Hudson channels with pained, eerily note-perfect precision.

Structurally, “Respect” is too run-of-the-mill to qualify as a great film. But as a platform for Hudson’s prodigious gifts — and as a vehicle through which to experience Aretha’s, again — it not only gets the job done, but it gains in potency and feeling. The final section, centered on the 1972 recording of the gospel record “Amazing Grace” and including emotionally shattering footage in the final credits, achieves a near-perfect balance of regret and uplift. “Respect” is nominally a movie about a woman finding her voice, but more accurately it’s about her taking full possession of it. Once she did, she enabled her listeners to feel like they had touched transcendence. There are electrifying moments when Hudson and “Respect” get the audience back to that rarefied place. And when they do, they’re right in the pocket .

PG-13 . At area theaters. Contains mature thematic elements, strong language including racial epithets, violence, suggestive material and smoking. 145 minutes.

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Respect review: Jennifer Hudson stars in lackluster Aretha Franklin biopic

Liesl Tommy's dutiful account of the Queen of Soul's career doesn't measure up to its subject.

The most common failure of artist biopics is simple unworthiness — when a movie's subject is a bona fide icon of singular talent, it becomes all the more conspicuous that the film devoted to them has the originality of an overly reverent book report. Falling cleanly into this trap, Liesl Tommy's Respect is a dutiful but disappointingly shallow account of Aretha Franklin 's early artistic evolution. It isn't nearly as compelling a movie as Franklin was a singer, but while the film never fully captures her brilliance, it does at least effectively allude to it.

Those glimmers of greatness come, appropriately, in the music. The film rolls out all the tracks one can hope and expect to hear, presented both stripped-down in the studio and fabulously dressed-up onstage, and the chief pleasure of the movie is to see them so attractively presented in clear historical context. Franklin herself handpicked Jennifer Hudson to play her (and was involved in the production up until her death in 2018), and the Oscar winner, singing every song live, does as well as any person conceivably could to imitate the sound of the Queen of Soul's otherworldly instrument.

Conveying Aretha as a person turns out to be the more elusive task. Chronicling about a 20-year span, from her childhood to her landmark 1972 live recording of "Amazing Grace," Respect gives a wide if not a deep perspective on her career in the context of her faith, her activism, and her complicated family life. Stage and TV director Tommy makes her feature directorial debut on the film, working from a script by Tracey Scott Wilson, also earning her first feature credit as a screenwriter. When faced with something difficult — especially one significant, easily Googled trauma of Franklin's young life — Tommy and Wilson repeatedly rely on ellipsis; one scene later in the movie seems to explain the technique away by rather clumsily suggesting that Franklin herself coped by repressing her worst memories.

It's obvious that Tommy, Wilson, Hudson, and everyone else involved embarked upon this endeavor with an overabundance of respect — for lack of a better word — for the legendary singer. But glossing over her darkest personal moments and sanitizing some of the more complex or controversial aspects of her life (most egregiously in the portrayal of her father, the formidable C. L. Franklin, played here by Forest Whitaker ) weakens this version of Aretha, undermining what should be a celebration of her extraordinary creative legacy. Ultimately, Respect generally hits the notes it needs to, both musically and historically, but comes up short in what should be the most crucial ingredient — soul. C+

Related content:

• Amazing Grace: Jennifer Hudson becomes Aretha Franklin in at-long-last biopic Respect
• Jennifer Hudson honors Aretha Franklin's 'spirit' with original Respect song 'Here I Am (Singing My Way Home)'

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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 the music icon's... Read all 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 the music icon's journey to find her voice. 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 the music icon's journey to find her voice.

• Liesl Tommy
• Tracey Scott Wilson
• Callie Khouri
• Jennifer Hudson
• Forest Whitaker
• Marlon Wayans
• 271 User reviews
• 134 Critic reviews
• 61 Metascore
• 3 wins & 40 nominations

• Aretha Franklin

• C. L. Franklin

• James Cleveland

• Jerry Wexler

• Mama Franklin

• Carolyn Franklin

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• Trivia Aretha Franklin hand-picked Jennifer Hudson to play her.
• Goofs The film shows Aretha Franklin's sister, Carolyn, singing the high counterpoint while recording "Ain't No Way." Cissy Houston actually sang the counterpoint.

Jerry Wexler : Oh, I love when you call me Jerry. It means you're not mad at me.

• Crazy credits "In loving memory of the Queen of Soul Aretha Louise Franklin March 25, 1942 - August 16, 2018" Seen before the end credits
• Connections Featured in The Oscars (2021)
• Soundtracks Jersey Shuffle Written by Phillip Lewis Performed by Joseph Joubert

User reviews 271

• Aug 25, 2021
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• Why did they downplay Rev. Franklin?
• August 13, 2021 (United States)
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• Respect: Một Huyền Thoại
• Atlanta, Georgia, USA
• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)
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• $55,000,000 (estimated)
• $24,278,399
• Aug 15, 2021
• $32,882,823

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• Runtime 2 hours 25 minutes
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‘Respect’: Cast, reviews and everything you need to know about the Aretha Franklin biopic

The Queen of Soul heads to the big screen with the biopic “Respect.”

Aretha Franklin’s music has been used countless times in movies, but like many great musicians before her, we’re now getting a biopic of the famed musician in the form of Respect .

Know as the Queen of Soul, Franklin was one of the most iconic musicians America has ever known. She sang hits like “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman,” “I Say a Little Prayer,” “I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You” and, of course, the film’s namesake, “Respect.” Franklin passed away in 2018 at the age of 76.

Here’s everything that we know about Respect .

What is the plot of ‘Respect?’

Respect will detail the life and career of Aretha Franklin, albeit a slightly fictionalized version. There’s plenty to dig into for sure, from Franklin being recognized as a gifted singer from an early age, to the struggles at the outset of her career before she blasted off into super stardom.

Franklin was the subject of the documentary Amazing Grace a few years ago. That film showed archival footage from a live album recording that she did with the New Bethel Baptist Church. Respect will be the first time that the whole of Franklin’s life will be portrayed on the big screen.

Who is in the ‘Respect’ cast?

Respect has been in the workings for years now, including when Franklin was still alive. This allowed her to hand-pick the actress that she wanted to play her in the movie. Franklin chose Jennifer Hudson. Already an Oscar-winner for Best Supporting Actress in Dreamgirls , Hudson has both the acting chops and voice to portray Franklin.

Even with her resume, Hudson admitted at the film’s premiere to Variety that she never knew exactly why Franklin picked her, saying “I’m so mad at myself for not asking her that question.” She did say that during the making of the film she found her own life experiences helped her channel Franklin throughout the years, which she believes the Queen of Soul was able to recognize somehow.

The rest of the cast of Respect is filled with recognizable faces as well. Forest Whitaker and Audra McDonald are playing Franklin’s parents C.L. and Barbara Franklin, while Marlon Wayans plays her first husband and manager Ted White. Other members of the cast include Marc Maron, Tituss Burgess, Tate Donovan and Mary J. Blige.

Who is the ‘Respect’ director?

The director of Respect is Liesel Tommy, who is making her feature film directorial debut. Tommy’s career has seen her direct episodes for some big name shows, including Insecure , The Walking Dead , Jessica Jones and Mrs. Fletcher , as well as time on the stage, including being Tony-nominated for the show Eclipse . She is also serving as an executive producer on the film.

Tommy directed from a script by Tracey Scott Wilson, whose previous credits include Fosse/Verdon and The Americans .

When is the ‘Respect’ release date?

Movie goers will be able to head to the theater to see Respect on Aug. 13 (Sept. 10 for U.K. audiences). This comes after the movie was shifted around multiple times because of the pandemic.

Respect was originally scheduled for an August 2020 release date, but was then moved to Jan. 15, 2021, where it still could have competed for 2020/2021 film awards. Then in October 2020, it was pushed back again to its current Aug. 13 date.

Respect will play exclusively in theaters upon its release. No plans for streaming have been announced at this time.

Is there a ‘Respect’ trailer

Yes. We got our first look at Jennifer Hudson as Aretha Franklin in the Respect trailer released back in May . Give it a watch for yourself below.

Are there ‘Respect’ reviews?

Reviews have started to come in for Respect , with critics appearing lukewarm to the film overall. Most critics seem to find the film stuck in the music bio cliches, but make a note to praise Hudson’s performance, which the USA Today ’s Brian Truitt called stunning.

As of Aug. 10, Respect has scored a 68% on Rotten Tomatoes, while netting a 58 on Metacritic.

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Michael Balderston is a DC-based entertainment and assistant managing editor for What to Watch, who has previously written about the TV and movies with TV Technology, Awards Circuit and regional publications. Spending most of his time watching new movies at the theater or classics on TCM, some of Michael's favorite movies include Casablanca , Moulin Rouge! , Silence of the Lambs , Children of Men , One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest and Star Wars . On the TV side he enjoys Only Murders in the Building, Yellowstone, The Boys, Game of Thrones and is always up for a Seinfeld rerun. Follow on Letterboxd .

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Common sense media reviewers.

Serious themes, stellar songs in mature Franklin biopic.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Themes of courage and perseverance. Victims of abu

Characters often act out of greed and jealousy. Ar

Characters get into fistfights, are choked out, ar

Some of Aretha's songs are sexual in nature. Very

Frequent use of "nigga," as well as period use of

Characters are shown wearing extravagant clothing

Adults and teens drink and smoke cigarettes freque

Parents need to know that Respect is a biopic about the life and career of soul singer Aretha Franklin (Jennifer Hudson). Fans of both Franklin and Hudson will be eager to see the many updated versions of Aretha's hit songs, but this isn't a light story: It deals with mature topics and themes, including…

Positive Messages

Themes of courage and perseverance. Victims of abuse find ability to stand up against their abusers. Strong theme of religion, specifically Christianity: Characters turn to God to be saved from their depression, anger, alcoholism. Shows importance of strong, supportive community in Black Southern Baptist culture. Characters support civil rights movement.

Positive Role Models

Characters often act out of greed and jealousy. Aretha often surrenders control to the people in her life. Her mother very early on tells Aretha the importance of owning her own voice rather than having someone else take ownership of it, though it takes a while for Aretha to understand what she means. Black characters are often seen standing up for their race; however, the characters are complex, so their advocacy isn't always shown in the best light.

Violence & Scariness

Characters get into fistfights, are choked out, are threatened with guns. Frequent portrayal of domestic violence. Implied sexual assault on a 10-year-old girl, who's later shown with a pregnant belly.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Some of Aretha's songs are sexual in nature. Very suggestive flirting, heavy make-out scenes. Scenes with characters lying covered by sheets, implied to be naked after having sex.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Frequent use of "nigga," as well as period use of "Negro." Occasional cursing includes "s--t," "bulls--t," "a--hole," and "bitch."

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Products & Purchases

Characters are shown wearing extravagant clothing and costumes and living in large mansions.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Adults and teens drink and smoke cigarettes frequently. Characters get into drunken arguments and fistfights.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Respect is a biopic about the life and career of soul singer Aretha Franklin ( Jennifer Hudson ). Fans of both Franklin and Hudson will be eager to see the many updated versions of Aretha's hit songs, but this isn't a light story: It deals with mature topics and themes, including drinking (sometimes to excess, leading to fights) and domestic abuse. Ultimately, though, it shows the importance of perseverance and empowerment and regaining control. Expect frequent use of strong language, including "s--t" and "nigga." Characters are choked and threatened with guns, and it's implied that a 10-year-old child is sexually assaulted. There's also suggestive flirting, heavy make-out scenes, and characters shown under the covers after having sex. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

Where to Watch

Videos and photos.

Community Reviews

• Parents say (5)
• Kids say (8)

Based on 5 parent reviews

A straightforward documentary with high production value

Needs discussions of patriarchy, misogyny and racism, what's the story.

Respect follows the life of Aretha Franklin ( Jennifer Hudson ), a young girl from Detroit who loves to sing. After a tragic accident takes her mother, Barbara Franklin ( Audra McDonald ), and a sexual assault leaves her pregnant, Aretha stays silent -- until her father, C.L. Franklin ( Forest Whitaker ), forces her to sing in church. After years of singing on the road with her father, who's a celebrated preacher in the civil rights movement, C.L. Franklin takes control of Aretha's career by becoming her manager. Aretha moves to New York to join Columbia Records, but she soon learns that just having a good voice might not be enough to make her a star. As Aretha searches for her signature sound, she must fight her father, her husband, Ted White ( Marlon Wayans ), and her debilitating, trauma-induced depression for control over her life and her voice.

Is It Any Good?

Hudson's performance as Aretha is electric, both on and off the stage. Although her voice isn't a perfect match for Aretha's, Hudson captures the singer's soulful spirit in each song featured in Respect. The film is very intimate with Aretha's emotional space. She's often seen being taken over by her "demons," which is how her depression and alcohol dependence are characterized by her family. But her story of recovery isn't typical, as the lines of good and evil are often blurred. The men in her life who supposedly save her from depression then make her suffer in other ways. Well-respected members of the community with good intentions are also greedy or take things to extremes. The film doesn't caricaturize any particular person in Aretha's life. Just as all of her sides are shown, so are everyone else's.

These complex concepts, as well as the prevalence of domestic abuse and child abuse, make the movie inappropriate for younger viewers. But Aretha's fans will enjoy the up-close-and-personal glimpse into her life. The film also serves as a learning experience, capturing some of the history of the civil rights movement as well as the globalization of soul music.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about Aretha Franklin. Do you know any of her songs? Where and how did you first hear about her? What did you know about her before watching Respect ?

Franklin grows up during the civil rights movement. What was her role? How did she first become involved? How did her philosophies regarding the movement later differ from her father's?

How does the story show the importance of courage and perseverance ? Why are those important character strengths ?

How accurate do you think the movie is to what happened in real life? Why might filmmakers alter the facts in a movie that's based on a true story?

How did Franklin's depression show itself in the film? Do you know anyone suffering from depression or alcohol dependency? What resources are available for those who may be suffering?

Movie Details

• In theaters : August 13, 2021
• On DVD or streaming : December 12, 2023
• Cast : Jennifer Hudson , Forest Whitaker , Audra McDonald
• Director : Liesl Tommy
• Inclusion Information : Female directors, Black directors, Female actors, Black actors
• Studio : MGM
• Genre : Drama
• Topics : Activism , History , Music and Sing-Along
• Character Strengths : Courage , Perseverance
• Run time : 145 minutes
• MPAA rating : PG-13
• MPAA explanation : mature thematic content, strong language including racial epithets, violence, suggestive material, and smoking
• Last updated : March 19, 2024

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

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R-E-S-P-E-C-T: Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul

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Respect review: Reduces the legendary Aretha Franklin to a motivational poster

To only see a straight line between suffering and vindication is an appealing but reductive way of looking at someone’s life, article bookmarked.

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Dir: Liesl Tommy. Starring: Jennifer Hudson, Forest Whitaker, Marlon Wayans, Audra McDonald, Marc Maron, Tituss Burgess, Mary J Blige. 12A, 145 mins.

One day, Hollywood biopics will no longer reduce human beings to motivational posters. Until then, we have Respect : a glossy retelling of Aretha Franklin ’s life that sucks out her humanity and replaces it with a convenient two-act structure. In the world of Tracey Scott Wilson’s script, Aretha ( Jennifer Hudson ) is first a child of trauma who rises up to become the lauded Queen of Soul; second, the alcoholic who subdues her addiction in order to record her best-selling (and most personal) record, 1972’s Amazing Grace .

To only see a straight line between suffering and vindication is an appealing but reductive way of looking at someone’s life. And Respect does itself no favours by trivialising abuse and mental illness in the pursuit of likeability. Director Liesl Tommy already has experience in guiding talent towards greatness, having worked with Lupita Nyong’o on the Broadway production of Eclipsed , for which she earned a Tony Award nomination. This project should have been relatively straightforward: to provide a worthy showcase for Hudson, who is tremendous in exactly the kind of way that grabs the attention of awards show voting bodies.

Avoiding mimicry, she instead blends Franklin’s essence with her own, acknowledging how much she owes to her legacy. You can see how Hudson adores her in the way she reverently delivers her lines – the actor’s way of laying flowers at a grave. But, while Respect may offer plenty of opportunity for that powerful, celestial voice of hers to shine, she’s also consistently tempered down by the film’s narrative shortcuts. Is it not a little unfair to end things on the real Franklin’s show-stopping performance of “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman” at the 2015 Kennedy Center Honors tribute to Carole King? How could Hudson possibly measure up to that?

Tommy’s film recognises Franklin’s talent, but struggles to define her outside of the men who caused her pain – much like this year’s The United States vs Billie Holiday . Franklin was sexually abused by a family friend, giving birth to two children before the age of 16. Her mother died early, leaving her under the command of her father CL (Forest Whitaker). He was a well-known preacher who prized his associations with the likes of Sam Cooke and Dinah Washington (Mary J Blige), and whose attachment to respectability politics here sees him push his daughter as the more “refined” version of Lena Horne or Dorothy Dandridge. He’ll make her do a twirl for the record producers; slap her if she gets out of line. The moment another man, Ted White (Marlon Wayans), offers to whisk her away, she finds herself relinquishing all control to him, no matter how abusive he becomes.

It’s a familiar cycle, that ever-shrinking vortex of trauma, but Respect would rather cut through the complications and simply hand Franklin her victorious moment of performing “Think” to White’s face, having finally wrestled free of his grasp. But framing him as the one, true barrier to freedom not only minimises her father’s abuse – he’s granted a sentimental reunion in the final reel – it sees the film treat her residual pain, the “demons” we see manifest in alcoholism and mood swings, as something largely perfunctory. Surely, the Queen of Soul deserves better than that.

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7 John Travolta Movies That Are Total Failures, According To Rotten Tomatoes

W hen I first moved to New York in 2017, I made a work friend who quickly became a close friend. One of the many things we bonded over was a shared love of John Travolta's lesser known movies. More specifically, I was impressed at how much joy my new friend was able to derive from the actor's career. I'd be lying if I said that joy stemmed from a genuine appreciation of the man's work, but I think he harbored a strange kind of respect for Travolta, as if any man who could put out "Look Who's Talking Now" or "Gotti" and still maintain some sort of career was deserving of admiration. As such, we planned a massive Travolta marathon which we sadly never got around to.

But if we ever did get around to taking a journey through the dregs of Travolta's career, Rotten Tomatoes might be a decent guide. By now, we should know not to take RT scores too seriously. The fact that, according to the site, there are only two perfect sci-fi movies in the history of cinema should make anyone suspicious of the review aggregator. But in Travolta's case, anyone looking to enjoy his lesser-known, critically panned work would find RT an invaluable resource

The Academy Award nominee's overall Rotten Tomatoes ranking page reveals that not only are there a dizzying array of Travolta features, he's actually managed to achieve the elusive 0% RT score multiple times. So, allow me to take you on a ride through the lowest-rated John Travolta movies, where we shall celebrate the joy that can be found in the man's less critically successful work. That, and we'll all have a good laugh at "Gotti."

Read more: The 31 Scariest Movie Scenes Ever

The Poison Rose

One film that would have definitely made our John Travolta marathon playlist is 2019's "The Poison Rose," which currently enjoys a 0% RT score and a 23% audience score. This ill-fated thriller was directed by George Gallo, the same man responsible for somehow convincing Robert De Niro to star in his 2020 crime comedy "The Comeback Trail" (which currently holds a 30% rating on RT). "The Poison Rose," however, sees Travolta at the height of his off-putting hairpiece era, playing hard-drinking Los Angeles Private Investigator and Lone Star state-transplant Carson Phillips. Phillips is asked to take up a missing persons case in his Texan home town, but as you might expect from a paint-by-numbers crime thriller such as this, quickly discovers this case is more complex than it seems.

This film is full of the kind of lovably trite dialogue my friend and I would repeat ad-nauseum, most of it delivered by Travolta in a bewildering Texan drawl. But the true mystery at the heart of "The Poison Rose" isn't Phillips' missing persons case, it's the fact that this film has a half-decent cast and still managed to get 0% RT score. I mean, Morgan Freeman, Brendan Fraser, Robert Patrick, Peter Stormare, and Famke Janssen? And not even a single percentage point? This one surely deserves to be included on the Travolta marathon if only so we can find out what in god's name Gallo made his impressive cast do to earn this most abject of green splats.

Trading Paint

Even if you'd never heard of this one, you can probably tell by the title alone than it would be on this list. "Trading Paint" just sounds like a late-career John Travolta action drama with a 0% RT score, and that's exactly what it is. In this film, which debuted the same year as "The Poison Rose," Travolta is Sam Munroe, a retired stock car racer who's forced back onto the track after his own son, Cam, joins a rival racing team. Yes, Travolta's character is trading paint with his own son in a Sam v Cam face-off that sounds almost as ridiculous as the actual plot of "Face/Off". The movie also stars Michael Madsen, Shania Twain and Toby Sebastian, and was directed by Iraqi Kurdish filmmaker Karzan Kader.

Unfortunately, as /Film's own evaluation of the "Trading Paint" trailer predicted, none of this added up to much in the way of a critical response. Rotten Tomatoes has aggregated 13 reviews for "Trading Paint," three of which are from "Top Critics" and all of which are resoundingly negative. The New York Post 's Johnny Oleksinski was particularly harsh about Travolta "croaking out a Southern accent as he overplays his outbursts and emotional reconciliations." Now, now, Johnny, this is the second ridiculous southern accent we got from Travolta in 2019, and exactly the kind of thing that would earn "Trading Paint" a place in our Travolta marathon.

Contrary to what the reviewers will have you believe, then "Trading Paint" has everything you could want from late-career Travolta: the grizzled "I don't do that kind of thing any more" old man archetype, hammy dialogue, a mystifying yet strangely alluring hairpiece. Throw it on the marathon playlist!

Speed Kills

Much like fellow screen legend Samuel L. Jackson, John Travolta's modern career choices have been frequently mystifying and always amusing. 2018 might just be the epitome of late-stage Travolta. First up from this seminal year, we have "Speed Kills," a crime drama based on the book of the same name. The book is a biography of speedboat designer and racer Donald Aronow, who in the film is named Ben Aronoff.

There's a recurring theme with a lot of these later Travolta films: all the trailers have the actor introducing exactly who he's playing right at the top. In "The Poison Rose" trailer, Travolta explains "My name is Carson Phillips, I'm a Hollywood PI. I like to drink, smoke, and gamble." With "Speed Kills," he announces, "My name is Ben Aronoff. I'm a self-made millionaire and an offshore boating champion. My boats have won hundreds of races. Oh yeah, they've also moved 100 million pounds of cocaine through Miami." That's pretty much the gist of this one, and it doesn't sound like too bad a premise, does it? Unfortunately, the TomatoMeter was not kind to this retelling of Aronow's life. All 17 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes are negative, with Variety 's Dennis Harvey being particularly merciless with this summation: "What's not to like? Well, everything."

But perhaps the most egregious criticism came not from any esteemed reviewer but from Powerboat Magazine , which warned its readers to "Prepare for Disappointment." Just think about that for a second. You might have thought that, despite the film failing to impress moviegoers or critics with its story, performances, or direction, it could at least please the power boat crowd, being that it's literally full of their favorite thing in the world. Alas, even the boaters weren't giving Travolta or his co-conspirators a pass.

Now, we reach the real jewel in the crown, John Travolta's 2018 passion project: "Gotti." This authorized John Gotti biopic was at the top of our Travolta marathon list and for good reason. The actor went from the Cannes Film Festival to a glitzy New York premiere promoting what he evidently felt was one of his finest acting achievements. According to The Hollywood Reporter , Travolta was sure his performance would "make him a player in the next awards race." He even signed up to social media for the first time in order to spread the word that the Travolta of old was back, and that this film was the beginning of the renaissance.

Unfortunately "Gotti" was summed up most succinctly by The Guardian as a "bizarre quasi-camp spectacle of Travolta channeling the Teflon Don via Tony Soprano via the Dolmio dad." Not to revel in Travolta's failure here, but this is an astounding turn of events that makes the man even more fascinating than he already was. He was truly convinced this movie — which began with this incredible opening scene in which Gotti turns awkwardly to camera and says "Let me tell you sumfin' New York is the greatest f****n' city in the world" — was going to be the film that put him back on the map.

All of the 58 reviews for "Gotti" on Rotten Tomatoes are negative, earning the film a rare 0% . Upon its release, there was something shady about the user reviews for "Gotti," which initially rocketed to 80%. Since then, that score has plummeted, but "Gotti" does at least still have the distinction of owning the highest audience score among the rest of these duds, with 44%. Still, that will be little consolation for Travolta, who clearly had higher hopes for "Gotti."

Life On The Line

John Travolta's "Face/Off" co-star Nicholas Cage has just one movie with a depressing 0% Rotten Tomatoes score , despite appearing in just as many, if not more, direct-to-video-on-demand films in recent years. Travolta, meanwhile has a full seven zero-rated films, and 2016's direct-to-video disaster film "Life on the Line" is one of the most hilarious.

Focusing on what is, according to the film's trailer, "the fourth most-dangerous profession in the world," "Life on the Line" sees Travolta deliver yet more Texas twang as Beau Ginner, the foreman of a lineman group. When a deadly storm threatens his town, he and his team must risk their lives to restore power to the grid so that a doctor can perform surgery on Beau's pregnant niece. If you need any more insight into the kind of film this is, at one point a character says "We're lineman, Beau, it's what we do."

Let's take this over to Rotten Tomatoes, where a surprising amount of "Top Critics" actually reviewed Travolta's DTV offering, only to completely eviscerate it. Yes, this is yet another 0-percenter. "Life may be on the line, but it's in short supply on the screen," lamented The Hollywood Reporter 's Sheri Linden, while the New York Daily News warned that viewers "might require a high-voltage shock just to endure it." But The New York Times ' Neil Genzlinger might have been the most cutting with his assertion that "Life on the Line" was merely "a terrible movie." At least Travolta is wearing a workman's hat for a lot of this film, which occludes whatever hair-piece calamity awaits beneath.

Look Who's Talking Now!

In 2024, we find ourselves awaiting the inevitable arrival of some awful movie written by A.I. But back in the '90s, John Travolta and director Tom Ropelewski were, according to Roger Ebert , doing their best impression of what that film might look like. As the esteemed critic saw it, "Look Who's Talking Too" "looks like it was chucked up by an automatic screenwriting machine." When the A.I.-driven garbage future arrives, then, we'll only have ourselves, and TriStar Pictures, to blame.

The third installment in the "Look Who's Talking" franchise found Travolta once again playing the patriarch of the Ubriacco family. This time, however, instead of dealing with talking babies, James and Mollie (Kirstie Alley) Ubriacco find themselves with two new additions to the family in the form of Rocks the mutt (Danny DeVito) and Daphne the poodle (Diane Keaton). There is some semblance of a plot here but do you really want to hear it?

1989's "Look Who's Talking" made us wish all babies were voiced by Bruce Willis , despite its lukewarm reception from critics. 1992's "Look Who's Talking Too" made us reconsider our thoughts on the first film, and 1993's "Look Who's Talking Now!" — well, it's on this list, where it earned a spot for having 25 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes and making sure every single one of them is bad. It's also a bit of an outlier here, as it's not really as fun as any of the later Travolta travesties and arrived just a year before the actor would make his big comeback in Quentin Tarantino's "Pulp Fiction."

Staying Alive

John Travolta trained like Rocky Balboa for "Saturday Night Fever" then Rocky Balboa himself, Sylvester Stallone, directed the sequel. Unfortunately, whereas the first installment is considered a classic, the sequel is, well, "a disgrace," at least according to Boston Phoenix 's Owen Gleiberman.

Set six years after the original, 1984's "Staying Alive" sees Travolta reprise the role of Tony Manero, who while working as a dance teacher gets his chance at appearing in a Broadway show. At the time of writing, this is the oldest film to hold a 0% rating on RT, with all 30 reviews panning Stallone's attempt to ride the success of the 1977 original. Still, in my humble opinion, "Staying Alive" is in good company here.

Travolta's career is a mystifying, fascinating, and diverse thing, and while all these films might be rated the "worst" by Rotten Tomatoes, they are at least interesting moments in the man's filmography. Sadly, my good friend with whom I bonded over our love for Travolta stinkers is no longer with us and we never got to do our full Travolta marathon. But the other day — the same day, in fact, as this article was greenlit — one of my friend's social media posts from years ago popped up, in which he wrote "Whenever I feel like I'm not doing my best I remember that someone greenlit John Travolta's 'Michael' with the tagline 'He's an angel... Not a saint.'" So, whenever you need some motivation, think of Travolta. Think of how even his bad movies come with a silver lining, and think often, as I do, of my friend's words.

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‘Megalopolis’ Review: Francis Ford Coppola’s Wild and Delirious Fever Dream Inspires New Hope for the Future of Movies

David ehrlich.

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After more than 40 years of idly fantasizing about the project (and more than 20 years of actively trying to finance it), Coppola is bringing “ Megalopolis ” to screens at a moment when his chosen medium is struggling to find a way forward, and the world around it seems teetering on the brink of collapse. Just as in 63 B.C., when an evil patrician named Catiline appealed to a coalition of malcontents in a bid to overthrow the Republic, we are choked by the grip of delusional aristocrats and vertically integrated conglomerates whose lust for power and profit is only matched by their lack of foresight. Even with the past as our guide, we are at imminent risk of allowing the now to destroy the forever.  Related Stories ‘Atlas’ Review: Jennifer Lopez Is the Only Person Who Realizes AI Is Evil in Glum Netflix Sci-Fi Outing George Miller Confused Anya Taylor-Joy for Her Stunt Double ‘a Lot’ on ‘Furiosa’

Coppola has always believed in America, but his faith is eroding by the second, and “Megalopolis” is nothing if not the boldest and most open-hearted of his many bids to stop time before it’s too late (an effort that has informed so much of his career, from “Peggy Sue Got Married” and “Bram Stoker’s Dracula” to “Youth After Youth” and “Jack”). As ever, he recognizes the futility in the attempt, even if his characters are sometimes a bit slow on the uptake. 

With “Megalopolis,” he crams 85 years worth of artistic reverence and romantic love into a clunky, garish, and transcendently sincere manifesto about the role of an artist at the end of an empire. It doesn’t just speak to Coppola’s philosophy, it embodies it to its bones. To quote one of the sharper non-sequiturs from a script that’s swimming in them: “When we leap into the unknown, we prove that we are free.”

Like Cesar, it might be for the best if we take a step back. Let’s start with New Rome, which is pretty much just downtown Atlanta cosplaying as a modern-day Manhattan that’s been artificially saturated with a vanilla skyline and set-dressed to resemble a Joel Schumacher Batman movie (complete with the same faux-debauched energy, and a host of glaring digital flourishes that also locate “Megalopolis” somewhere in the vicinity of Vera Drew’s “The People’s Joker,” the only other movie so far this year that can match the go-for-broke visual exuberance on display here).

Cesar’s great hope for the future of this hodgepodge city is a new element he invented called Megalon, which glows yellow, does whatever is most convenient for the scene at hand, and may or may not have played a role in the tragic death of his wife. “Megalopolis” is of course dedicated to Coppola’s late wife Eleanor, who died after the completion of the film , but whose loving memory nevertheless casts a long shadow over this story about a self-involved iconoclast whose mind is always obsessively preoccupied with his work. 

The DA who prosecuted the city’s failed homicide case against Cesar is now the mayor of New Rome, and our hero’s rival in the bid to control the megalopolis’ levers of power; his name is Franklyn Cicero (natch), he’s played by a game and jowly Giancarlo Esposito, and his beautiful daughter Julia will soon become Cesar’s closest advisor and most intimate muse (credit to Nathalie Emmanuel, doing her best with a wooden character in a film that reduces all of its women to cartoons in the face of male genius). Cesar envisions a New Rome that “people can dream about,” while Cicero hopes to build “a fun casino” with more practical dividends. 

That sort of creatively unbound approach may not have resulted in a surplus of dramatically coherent scenes, but it undergirds the entire movie with a looseness that makes it almost impossible to look away. You never know when Grace VanderWaal might split into five identical clones of herself while singing an original pop anthem about her virginity, or when Laurence Fishburne — back for more of the fun he had with Coppola on the set of “Apocalypse Now” — might invoke some more wisdom via his voiceover narration, or when Aubrey Plaza’s gold-digging seductress/news anchor might shift her overt sexual attention to a different member of New Rome’s ruling class. Her character’s name is Wow Platinum, because every generation gets the “Southland Tales” it deserves. First she’s hot for Cesar, then for his gazillionaire banker uncle Hamilton Crassus III (Jon Voight), and finally for Crassus’ sociopathic court jester of a son, Clodio Pulcher (a palpably malevolent Shia LaBeouf). 

The story is sustained by the sheer force of Coppola’s enthusiasm for it, and it hardly seems to matter that each scene feeds into the next with the grace of a wave crashing into a jetty — not when it’s so exciting to see what might happen next, and stray moments of transcendent surprise can be found hiding in even the flattest stretches. Two people connected by an invisible rope as they run through a hallway. A fallen rose suspended in mid-air. A rain-slicked noir chase sequence melting into a vision of eternal devotion. 

So while it might be tempting to see this kooky, nepotistically cloistered, and unconscionably expensive magnum opus as the self-involved work of a fading artist who’s lost whatever was left of his ability to tell good ideas from bad, “Megalopolis” does everything in its power to remind the audience that we share in the outcome of its demented fever dream. Which isn’t to say that we’re obligated to make this particular movie a success, only that we’d do well to examine the source of whatever hostility it might reflexively produce within us. Why does change scare us so much that we’d sooner forfeit our freedom to imagine a better world than reckon with the possibilities such freedom allows? Quoth Marcus Aurelius again: “The universe is change; our life is what our thoughts make of it.” 

“I will not let time have dominion over my thoughts,” Cesar repeats to himself as a compulsive mantra. “Artists can never lose their control of time,” Julia tells him. “Painters freeze it, poets sing of it, musicians rhythmatize it…,” she trails off. What do filmmakers do? They stop it to remind us that we can’t. With the profoundly moving final shot of “Megalopolis,” Coppola insists that’s all the more reason to fight for the future. 

“Megalopolis” premiered in Competition at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival. It is currently seeking U.S. distribution.

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Furiosa rotten tomatoes audience score breaks major mad max franchise record.

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Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga's Post-Credits Scene Explained

All 10 returning mad max: fury road characters in furiosa, furiosa has a plot hole we’re going to be talking about for another 10 years.

• Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga has an audience score of 93% on Rotten Tomatoes.
• This makes it the highest-rated movie of the franchise among Rotten Tomatoes users.
• This kind of reaction could help the movie overcome a lukewarm opening weekend.

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga has broken a Rotten Tomatoes record for the franchise. The movie stars Anya Taylor-Joy as a younger version of the now-iconic Imperator Furiosa, who was previously played by Charlize Theron. Her co-stars in the movie, which was helmed by returning director George Miller, include Chris Hemsworth, Tom Burke, and Lachy Hulme. The Furiosa release comes nine years after the previous installment in the franchise, which was 2015's Oscar-winning Fury Road , to which it is a prequel.

Now that Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga has hit theaters, audiences have been allowed to share their ratings for the movie on Rotten Tomatoes . The review aggregator service has calculated that the movie has an audience score of 93%, which gives it the highest audience score of the entire Mad Max franchise . That number, which is subject to change, comes from verified viewers only, but the unverified score of 89% is still the best audience score of the five movies.

Could Furiosa’s Audience Score Help It Overcome A Lukewarm Debut?

Furiosa's opening weekend box office fell short of expectations.

This Rotten Tomatoes audience score tells an entirely different story from the Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga box office . At the time of writing, the movie is expected to fall significantly short of its original $40 million opening weekend projections , reaching no higher than $35 million and potentially being outgrossed by The Garfield Movie . However, while fewer audiences saw the movie than expected, those that did have been rating it highly, which could signal a sea change for the movie in the coming weeks.

Mad Max: Fury Road also had a mild opening, grossing $45.4 million against its estimated budget of roughly $150 million. However, it legged out to a total of $379.4 million worldwide, going on to win six Oscars. Considering the fact that the prequel is directly linked to that installment and has an even better audience score, word of mouth could help boost the movie to a similar box office total by the end of its run. This could also be boosted by the A-list leads from the Furiosa cast continuing to promote the movie throughout its run. Check out how the Mad Max movies compare on Rotten Tomatoes below:

Ultimately, it remains to be seen how Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga performs worldwide, and if it maintains its Rotten Tomatoes audience score record. However, debuting with such positive results shows that the movie is connecting with audiences. It also indicates that the movie isn't suffering critically from not centering Max Rockatansky, the protagonist of all four previous installments in the franchise. This could help the movie as well as the franchise in the long run if these early reactions galvanize viewers who were on the fence about the prequel.

Source: Rotten Tomatoes

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga

A prequel to Mad Max: Fury Road, Furiosa is an action-adventure film that tells the origin story of the headstrong and fearless Furiosa. Set shortly after the beginning of the "end of the world," Furiosa is kidnapped and brought before a powerful warlord, now forced to work for him. To find her way back home, Furiosa will adapt to the new harsh and arid world as she grows into the Furiosa she becomes known to be. 

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‘anora’ review: mikey madison is a delightfully scrappy force in sean baker’s cracked cinderella story.

A young sex worker’s romantic entanglement with the son of a Russian oligarch gets very messy in this screwball comedy set in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn.

By David Rooney

David Rooney

Chief Film Critic

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Cannes: sean baker's 'anora' wins palme d'or as 'emilia pérez' takes two awards, a trans drug kingpin, masturbating zombies and emma stone: thr's critics pick the 20 best films of cannes 2024.

Ani lives with her sister in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, and works in a Manhattan lap-dancing bar called HQ, an environment of throbbing sexuality and glittering sleaze that Baker refreshingly treats like any regular workplace. New York is tough and a girl’s got to earn a living. There’s both camaraderie and friction among the young women who dance there, and while over-inebriated customers might sometimes need to be cut off at the bar, the bouncer and boss ensure that it’s a relatively safe space.

Approaching each potential client with a winsome smile, Ani knows how to maximize her take-home, gently steering them via the ATM to semi-private booths for a lap dance or into VIP rooms for something more special. Her upbringing with an Uzbek grandmother who spoke no English has given her cultural familiarity and rudimentary communication skills that come in handy with Russian customers, which is the case when Ivan Zakharov (Mark Eydelshteyn), hits the club ready to party. “God bless America!” he exclaims as Ani treats him to a little extra.

He invites her to a wild New Year’s Eve party at his palatial digs, and when she makes moves to head home the next day, he suggests an exclusive arrangement whereby she spends the week with him before he’s due to return to Russia and start working for his father. In a winking nod to Pretty Woman , she negotiates upwards to $15,000, cash up-front.

There’s plenty of booze, coke and weed on hand as they hang out at Coney Island with Ivan’s bros and their girlfriends. On a whim, they all head on a private plane to Las Vegas, where Ivan is no stranger to their hotel’s luxury penthouse suite. In what starts out half-jokingly but soon becomes a serious, if impulsive, proposal, he asks Ani to marry him. One four carat diamond ring purchase later, they’re hitched.

In a similarly ironic way to how he used NSYNC’s “Bye Bye Bye” in Red Rocket , Baker makes a motif of the Take That banger, “Greatest Day,” a euphoric anthem for the giddy high on which Ani’s life is transformed. Wrapped in a luxuriant new Russian sable coat, she ditches her HQ job, excitedly planning on the Disney World honeymoon in a magical princess suite that she’s dreamed of since she was a kid.

In the movie’s most hilarious set-piece, Ivan makes a run for it, leaving Ani alone to deal with the goons. But she proves a formidable match for them, causing considerable wreckage and injury before they subdue her long enough to bundle her into a car and go looking for her husband. That night-long search takes them through authentic Brighton Beach locales — a pool hall, a videogame arcade, Tatiana Grill on the boardwalk — all of which serve to enrich the movie’s sense of place.

Ivan’s father Nikolai (Aleksey Serebryakov) and his far more ferocious mother Galina (Darya Ekamasova) fly in to deal with the disgrace to their family and push through an annulment. When Ivan, accurately described by Toros as “a spoiled brat who doesn’t want to grow up,” is finally located, he’s too wasted even to discuss what’s happening with Ani.

As events veer into seemingly dangerous territory, Baker spices up the scenes with throwaway humor that keeps the film buoyant, even as Ani gets a rude awakening about the shallowness of spineless Ivan’s feelings for her, let alone his respect. But as is customary in the director’s work, women treated as sexual playthings in the narrative are treated with dignity by the film. It’s a nice touch that while Galina fumes over Ani’s refusal just to back down and be compliant, Nikolai finds her feistiness extremely funny. He seems unaccustomed to hearing anyone talk back to his wife.

Madison plays Ani’s emotionally bruising experience with affecting poignancy, but the heart of the movie owes as much to the unexpected capacity for kindness shown by Igor, who’s supposed to be the designated muscle. Borisov, so wonderful as the soulful Russian miner in Finnish director Juho Kuosmanen’s Compartment No. 6 , plays the character’s sensitivity by stealth degrees, through to a closing scene that’s intentionally awkward but genuinely moving.

Again collaborating with cinematographer Drew Daniels, who shot Red Rocket , this time working in 35mm with anamorphic lenses, Baker gives each of the story’s principal settings — HQ, sleepy Coney Island in winter, glitzy Vegas and Ivan’s airy Brooklyn home — its own distinctive vitality, color palette and lighting textures. While Anora could stand to lose 10-15 minutes, it’s a very satisfying watch, deftly commenting on questions of class, privilege and the wealth divide. The director continues firmly staking out his niche as a chronicler of the messy lives of an often invisible American underclass.

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