Review of Straight Outta Compton (2015) by Ben L — 18 Feb 2016

I saw this film because I heard it was surprisingly good, it got nominated for an Oscar, and I wanted to give it a chance despite the fact that I do not know anything about NWA. I feel like all the acclaim and praise must be coming from people who are passionate about rap music and already care about their story, because this movie was extremely lackluster to me.

It is the most stereotypical, unimaginative tale of a music group hitting it big. They record a big album, they become really famous, they overindulge in sex and drugs, they start to fight with each other, and then they break up.

I just didn't feel that starting them out dealing with the racist police on the streets of Compton was enough of a differentiation to make this story unique from a hundred other stories like this one.

Not that the film was all bad. There were moments where I was really connecting with the story, and I wanted to see what happened next (like the confrontation with the police in Detroit.) I also admire some of the actors, because they had some wide-ranging emotional beats to play and they were very good.

Perhaps my biggest pet peeve about biopics like this is when they start visual name-dropping. The story that matters is the rise-and-fall of the relationship between these 5 guys, but then we have to stop and say "Hey look, it's Snoop Dogg! That's right, they worked with him.

" or "Remember that movie Friday, this is when they made it!" Straight Outta Compton just did very little for me. While it is a good example of one of these biopics, it's not the kind of biopic I like to watch.

But if you're a fan of the group, your opinion could be dramatically different.