Review of Purple Rain (1984) by Jennifer S — 11 May 2010

I loved the music, but the acting in this movie sucked. And I can pinpoint the one actress whose performance sucked more than everybody else combined - that blonde short-haired waitress who is the first to encounter Appolonia. This isn't saying much, though, about everyone else whose acting was only deathly mediocre at best. Prince himself is such a weird specimen that I had issues getting over his eclectic, wildly creative macho-feminine vibe. I'd say, though, that he was the most believable actor in the whole film - I'm willing to bet that he had lived a lot of the events in the film and could draw upon those memories to get the emotions he needed to be believable. It was interesting how his father was depicted as not so much a heartless monster as a very tortured and messed up man, and his mother, who kept choosing to revolve around him. The difference was made clear, or perhaps I have just grown more empathetic to situations where it's hard to know what to do about a someone you love. With regards to the distinction between bad acting and good acting, some of Prince's struggle over this did not look like an act at all. I'm not sure what to think of the way I felt about that. It all seemed so very private and sordid. Then again, Prince is good at erasing the usual boundaries in art and, to cover my behind, I will say that for all I know maybe that is just the way Prince is, crying like that in the corner after he hears his parents screaming at each other.

The whole romance between Prince and Appolonia was not believable for me, though. Appolonia kept wearing these really booby outfits and sang fluffy songs that didn't mean anything, and so I could have cared less for her. And why, exactly, did Prince start noticing her anyway? I would imagine many pretty women would have tried to come up to him, singers or not, so what made him decide to be her best friend out of all the other potential best friends out there? Not because of her shimmering personality in my eyes, that's for sure...

The "villain" of this movie - I am guessing - is this man who reminds me of some kind of poor imitation of Richard Pryor who could sing decent eighties music. He is so comical that he doesn't even register to me as a villain. His henchmen insist on kicking Prince out of his position at the club as singer becuase Prince sings about random crap that doesn't make sense to the audience. Not to mention that Prince has so many issues going on at home that he just doesn't show up for important meetings. I could actually understand that. So the trouble then lay in Prince's angst, and whether or not he could pull himself together.

And then, well, I fall asleep. I faded in and out briefly to find scenes involving the characters rushing around backstage, Prince reconciling with Appolonia after he slaps her for joining that guy's brainless girl band, and then he starts singing about Purple Rain. And the guys who formally hated him because of his confusing music topics are now nodding their heads to the beat, smiling from ear to ear in an ending sequence that features some killer music, but as usual with this movie, little sense. Apparently these guys suddenly adore Prince now because he is really singing his heart out this time. Never mind that his lyrics are even more abstract and nebulous than before - I mean, come on purple rain - but I guess it's all okay now. And I guess they were just using the whole "your music doesn't make sense" thing at him as an excuse to kick him out and replace him with Appolonia. What ever happened with Appolonia singing her own music anyway? Did she even have music talent worth repeating? I paid absolutely no attention whatsoever.

To the fans of this movie, I am sure that this review is highly offensive. I still say I liked the music, though. I just wished that this movie had better coherency and stronger characters.