RESPECT

Academy Award winner Jennifer Hudson is perfectly cast as the late Aretha Franklin. Judging by the previews and Hudson's known musical talent, this seemed like an early Oscar contender for her (and even after watching it, I still believe that to be the case). However, she didn't do enough with the role to win me over and I see her gaining nothing more than a nomination, rather than a win. She plays Aretha wonderfully, always poised, respectful, and humble being able to show her full acting talents towards the later part of the film. However, her performance, and film overall, felt very average. It's bloated with a runtime of 2 hours and 25 minutes and a handful of scenes, particularly early in the film could have been trimmed down to assist with the films pace. Quite a bit of time is devoted to Aretha's youth to open with, which stalls any momentum out of the gate, before the audience is finally introduced to Hudson. She is remarkably surrounded by very strong supporting actors as well, especially when talking about Forest Whitaker, who plays her preacher father and Marlon Wayans who plays her first husband, Ted White. Both men are extremely demanding, controlling, and hard headed, who attempt to keep Aretha under their thumbs throughout the film, until she finally finds her self-worth and respect to stand up to the both of them. I wouldn't be surprised to see either or both of them land nominations as well (and I'd really be pulling for Wayans if that's the case). A film that looked to have more promise but failed in it's delivery. Unless your a fan of Aretha's, you can probably avoid the theaters for this. 5/10