Respect (2021) Movie Review
Aretha Franklin is the undisputed Queen of Soul! She led an extraordinary life, full of triumphs and tribulations. Respect is an attempt to capture her life in all its glory. As with most biopics, Respect begins with Aretha as a child played by Skye Dakota Turner. We get some background on her upbringing as her parents were separated and she lived mainly with her father, C.L. Franklin (Forest Whitaker). C.L. was a well-known and well-respected pastor and Aretha got to use her singing talent in the choir at his church.
After her mother passes away, we jump ahead to Aretha (Jennifer Hudson) as a young lady on the road with her father’s gospel tour. She yearns for more and is excited when she gets signed to a record label. John Hammond (Tate Donovan) isn’t sure how best to utilize Aretha’s talent and has her singing old jazz standards that don’t ever turn into hits. When she meets Ted White (Marlon Wayans) and falls in love, career possibilities begin to open up as he begins managing her. She switches to a new label with Jerry Wexler (Marc Maron) at the helm and finds her signature sound with her first big hit “I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Loved You).” Success inevitably follows but we see the hurdles Aretha had to overcome, in particular her abusive relationship with Ted White who on countless occasions beat her up.
As the musical hits begin to come, drama with Ted escalates. The Franklin’s rally around Aretha as she tries to deal with newfound fame and extricate herself from Ted. Later on, after Ted is no longer part of her life Aretha deals with alcoholism and at one point even collapses on stage. But of course she ends triumphant, going back to her roots to sing gospel music and overcome her demons.
Respect suffers from what most biopics suffer from. In trying to cover everything about Franklin’s life, it actually winds up covering nothing. We hop from moment to moment with little connectivity and even large moments in Franklin’s are skimmed over. We see a few minuscule moments of Aretha rearranging “Respect,” perhaps her greatest hit, and then we’re whisked off to the next major event in her life. You don’t get any sense of who Franklin actually was or how she felt about her songs. She doesn’t feel like a real person, because the story doesn’t let us get to know her on an intimate level. It’s very surface level as we hit each milestone of her life.
This is not for a lack of trying on Jennifer Hudson’s part. She puts in a phenomenal performance in a role that she is extraordinarily well suited for. Hudson has the vocal power to sing Franklin’s songs and she has the acting ability to deliver noteworthy performances but her talent is ultimately wasted by a lackluster script that is too afraid to dive deep into any area of Franklin’s life. We must settle for glimpses of the superstar: Aretha the singer, Aretha the mother, Aretha the sister, Aretha the activist etc. But none of these labels shows you enough to be compelling. The end credits include a performance by the real Aretha Franklin singing “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman” and it is honestly more interesting and entertaining than any bit from the movie. It’s a shame that Hudson wasn’t given a better script because even with this mediocre mash up of moments, she shines.
You’ll like this movie if:
1. You like Aretha Franklin or her music
2. You like biopics
3. You enjoy stories about tortured artists
