~Crybaby~
Jun 21st, 2008, 01:37 AM
Mariah Carey surprisingly effective in Tennessee.
NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - It's slightly unfair to describe "Tennessee," which had its world premiere at the recent Tribeca Film Festival, as the new Mariah Carey movie, but that's the way most people will talk about it.
Carey is not the main character in this story of two brothers trying to make peace with their past, but her presence will give this road picture a whole other level of visibility. This is not necessarily a good thing because of Carey's notorious 2001 bomb "Glitter."
So the first surprise of "Tennessee" is that Carey gives an understated and very effective performance. Because her musical career is soaring higher than ever, the timing could be right to win an audience for this modest rural drama.
.
Tennessee is a good old-fashioned road movie, where travelling along an actual highway is a metaphor for making progress along your personal journey of life.
Mariah plays a waitress who - would you believe it? - wants to break into music. She gets picked up by the film's heroes and accompanies them to Nashville, where they hope to find their estranged father.
Amazingly, Mariah is the best thing in it. Her understated, downbeat performance is so natural that pretty soon you stop wondering whether Busta Rhymes will pop up for a guest rap.
And for someone famed as an image-obsessed diva, Carey has no problem playing a character who dresses down in dowdy clothes with greasy, toussled hair. She even carries a little extra weight compared to her normal svelte image.
Carey is so good, in fact, that the film feels rather flat when she's off-screen. The denouement, which is presumably supposed to be a heart-rending tear-jerker, kind of passed me by.
Maybe we wrote Carey's film career off too soon?
Source: BBC UK
Has it really been almost seven years since Mariah Carey's tragic film debut in "Glitter"? Even now, nothing can erase the memory of the unintentional hilarity of that misbegotten project. That is, almost nothing.
Now comes "Tennessee," a mixed bag drama that will open during next week's Tribeca Film Festival. If you remember an old Kevin Costner movie called "American Flyer," this is a similar idea: two brothers, one of them is terminally ill, on a road trip to find their missing father. Along the way, they meet Mariah, an aspiring singer, who joins them for a while on their mission.
This is what you want to know: Carey is very good in the role as Krystal, even though I think it's the wrong part for her. She should be doing comedy. To her immense credit, she somehow relaxes her naturally cherubic face to portray an abused wife who has a dream. "Tennessee" is full of clichés, but Mariah provides the least of them. She hangs in there even when the drama is more contrived than real.
And she does sing, just a little bit, but that's what almost undoes the film. Mariah Carey cannot play a wannabe. She opens her mouth and The Voice comes out. Luckily, in "Tennessee," it's just one song. But as in "Wise Girls," she's better off not playing a singer unless the character is a star, a la "The Bodyguard."
The performances are what's most notable about the movie... And, if anyone was worried that Carey was going to overwhelm the picture with her star power, there was no need to worry; she properly eschews her glam persona to play Krystal, whose dreams have also been squashed by abuse. She even sports a passable Texas accent, which is no small feat for a girl from Long Island.
I love the bolded parts. Can't wait to see this. Get that acting credibility MC. :love:
NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - It's slightly unfair to describe "Tennessee," which had its world premiere at the recent Tribeca Film Festival, as the new Mariah Carey movie, but that's the way most people will talk about it.
Carey is not the main character in this story of two brothers trying to make peace with their past, but her presence will give this road picture a whole other level of visibility. This is not necessarily a good thing because of Carey's notorious 2001 bomb "Glitter."
So the first surprise of "Tennessee" is that Carey gives an understated and very effective performance. Because her musical career is soaring higher than ever, the timing could be right to win an audience for this modest rural drama.
.
Tennessee is a good old-fashioned road movie, where travelling along an actual highway is a metaphor for making progress along your personal journey of life.
Mariah plays a waitress who - would you believe it? - wants to break into music. She gets picked up by the film's heroes and accompanies them to Nashville, where they hope to find their estranged father.
Amazingly, Mariah is the best thing in it. Her understated, downbeat performance is so natural that pretty soon you stop wondering whether Busta Rhymes will pop up for a guest rap.
And for someone famed as an image-obsessed diva, Carey has no problem playing a character who dresses down in dowdy clothes with greasy, toussled hair. She even carries a little extra weight compared to her normal svelte image.
Carey is so good, in fact, that the film feels rather flat when she's off-screen. The denouement, which is presumably supposed to be a heart-rending tear-jerker, kind of passed me by.
Maybe we wrote Carey's film career off too soon?
Source: BBC UK
Has it really been almost seven years since Mariah Carey's tragic film debut in "Glitter"? Even now, nothing can erase the memory of the unintentional hilarity of that misbegotten project. That is, almost nothing.
Now comes "Tennessee," a mixed bag drama that will open during next week's Tribeca Film Festival. If you remember an old Kevin Costner movie called "American Flyer," this is a similar idea: two brothers, one of them is terminally ill, on a road trip to find their missing father. Along the way, they meet Mariah, an aspiring singer, who joins them for a while on their mission.
This is what you want to know: Carey is very good in the role as Krystal, even though I think it's the wrong part for her. She should be doing comedy. To her immense credit, she somehow relaxes her naturally cherubic face to portray an abused wife who has a dream. "Tennessee" is full of clichés, but Mariah provides the least of them. She hangs in there even when the drama is more contrived than real.
And she does sing, just a little bit, but that's what almost undoes the film. Mariah Carey cannot play a wannabe. She opens her mouth and The Voice comes out. Luckily, in "Tennessee," it's just one song. But as in "Wise Girls," she's better off not playing a singer unless the character is a star, a la "The Bodyguard."
The performances are what's most notable about the movie... And, if anyone was worried that Carey was going to overwhelm the picture with her star power, there was no need to worry; she properly eschews her glam persona to play Krystal, whose dreams have also been squashed by abuse. She even sports a passable Texas accent, which is no small feat for a girl from Long Island.
I love the bolded parts. Can't wait to see this. Get that acting credibility MC. :love: