"Respect" -- Movie Review

This week, I attended an advance screening of the new musical biography of R&B singer Aretha Franklin, “Respect”, starring Jennifer Hudson. 

Synopsis

How did a talented little girl from Detroit come to be known as The Queen Of Soul?

Story

In the early 1950’s, Aretha Franklin was growing up in Detroit with her sisters.  Living with their father Rev. C.L. Franklin (Forest Whitaker), the girls only occasionally get to see their mother Barbara (Audra McDonald) who divorced her abusive husband long ago.  Tragically, it is not too long thereafter that Barbara passes away and her daughters now only have their demanding father, who insists on having Aretha sing whenever he has company at his house.  The little girl doesn’t mind – in fact, she enjoys performing because it is her fervent hope that she someday becomes a professional singer. 

After hearing her sing, Aretha is signed to Columbia Records in the early 1960’s.  Unfortunately, after recording nine albums for that label, they release her from her contract because she hasn’t been able to score any hits.   It is then that Jerry Wexler (Marc Maron) becomes interested in Aretha and signs her to his label, Atlantic.  Wexler gives Aretha more creative freedom, rather than forcing her to sing standards like she did at Columbia – and this causes her to come into her own creatively, especially when she records with the musicians in Muscle Shoals, Alabama.  The hits start coming in rapid succession with her own unique voice catching everyone’s attention. 

By 1970, having won Grammy Awards and made more money than she could conceive of, she now turns to political activism.  Once her family friend Rev. Martin Luther King is assassinated, she starts supporting the controversial Angela Davis and the Black Panthers in order to bring civil rights to her fellow members of the African-American community.  But with no one who can really tell Aretha what to do, she becomes an alcoholic.  This not only negatively impacts her personal life, but also her professional life as well – she starts showing up drunk at live performances and cancels others because she is too hungover.  Will she be able to dry out and fix both her life and her career?

Review

It’s such a shame.  The Queen Of Soul deserved a much better biopic.  In “Respect”, the great Aretha Franklin was shown precious little in the way of respect.  So much of this movie is cringe-worthy, it’s hard to know where to begin – or to end, for that matter.  For a large portion of this film, it comes off as something of a hagiography – that is, until Aretha becomes a full-fledged superstar around 1970.  That’s when we see a darker side of her as she turns to indulging in way too much alcohol.  At almost two and a half hours, it comes off as a torturous and self-indulgent experience. 

Supposedly, prior to Aretha’s passing in 2018, she specifically chose Jennifer Hudson to portray her if her life story was ever made.  Is “Respect” worth seeing?  Well, it may depend on how much of a fan you are of either Aretha Franklin or Jennifer Hudson.  If you are more of a Jennifer Hudson fan, then maybe you might be better off just purchasing the soundtrack of the movie (there presumably will be one, if it’s not already been released).  Otherwise, this motion picture is something of a wasted opportunity in the hands of these filmmakers.  Hudson gives a performance that deserves a considerably better vehicle than the one she was provided. 

Following the screening, there was an interview with the screenwriter of “Respect”, Tracey Scott Wilson.  She said that the director of the movie was a friend of hers and wanted her to create a screenplay that concentrated on the key 20 years of Aretha’s life from the age of 10 to 30.  With that parameter, Wilson was able to focus on a structure where Aretha was able to find her own voice.  This is her first screenplay – most of her previous work was in the theater.  Wilson said that the film was shot from October of 2019 to March of 2020 – they coincidentally managed to wrap right before the entire industry was shut down.