Purple Rain (3 Stars)

I considered watching this film to remember Prince in his death 10 days ago, but I decided to watch "Batman" instead. The reason for my decision was the respect that I have for Prince. I wanted to write something good about him, but "Purple Rain" is an awful film. It depends what I'm judging the film on. If I judged the film by its music I'd have to give it five stars. The music is brilliant. The stage performances by Prince included in the film are amazing. If I judged the film by its plot and the acting, I'd give it a rock bottom rating of one star. Prince is a great musician, but he isn't an actor. He delivers his lines without emotion, and his facial expressions show no feelings. His co-star Apollonia Kotero is just as bad, and the other actors are even worse, delivering serious dialogue with stupid grins on their faces.

As for the story, it's a mash up of a love story, a family drama and a rags to riches story.

The love story: A young woman who wants to be a singer comes to Minneapolis and falls in love with a singer known only as The Kid (Prince).

The family drama: The Kid is unhappy at home because his father frequently beats his mother.

The rags to riches story: The Kid's band, Revolution, is the main act in the club, but the club's owner wants to replace them with a more popular act. The Kid struggles to find a musical style which is more acceptable to the audience.

These are too many plots vying for screen time in such a short film. There's even less time to develop the plots because of the long musical scenes. Apart from this The Kid is so unpleasant that I kept wishing Apollonia would dump him. He hit her twice during the film, which made me clench my fists in rage. Even worse, she forgave him, which made me even angrier. What's the message the film is trying to give us? "If a woman really loves a man it doesn't matter if he hits her". It's disgusting.

"Purple Rain" won an Oscar for the best original song, the title song. It also won a Golden Raspberry for the worst original song, "Sex Shooter", performed by Apollonia. Is this the only film that has ever won an Oscar and a Razzie in the same category?

I'll be generous and give "Purple Rain" a neutral three star rating. It's a bad film with good music. My advice to anyone who wants to watch the film is don't bother. Listen to the CD instead.