Pluskylang Great Film overall

Phonearl Good start, but then it gets ruined

Stoutor It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

Fairaher The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

Aanna Wilton K Very traumatic. But it is a typical life of a rich star. Hard childhood, rich life, ends up with nothing. Only emotions and a lot of experience. Nothing new. I still loved it because of the acting. Latifah is my long time loved actress and it was new to see her like this. Seeing my favorite actress forming a char like this tells me she thought it is worth to make it. We can learn from it. I prefer films with a lot emotions or actions. It has both. There was only one scene where I wanted to speed up things but it was worth to watch it. And the music and singing is a great collection they really make the the movie feels like back in time. The only thing I miss: I could not get to know the other characters. They could have made the movie a bit longer with more scenes with other people's life. But my final words: loved it! It is a real romantic movie. And I do not mean because of the relationships but because of the events too.

MovieHoliks I'm going to repeat something I saw another user off IMDb say, "LOVED IT!!" I just saw this brand new biopic off HBO GO last night, and it's a winner! "Bessie" is an HBO TV film about legendary American blues singer Bessie Smith (Queen Latifah), and focuses on her transformation as a struggling young singer into "The Empress of the Blues". Bessie Smith (Queen Latifah) became one of the most popular female recording artists of the 1920s and 1930s as a singer of blues and jazz. This biography follows her life from a young singer from Chattanooga, Tennessee to her success- as well as her trials and tribulations revolving around family, show business, and personal demons.There is a great scene in the film- *possible SPOILER* which Bessie sums up the difference between Southern and Northern racism. She says that Southerners don't mind how close you are, as long as you don't get too big- and Northerners don't mind how big you get, as long as you don't get too close. What a sad, but true, commentary on the racial divide, which this singer- and her music- made big strides to over-come, that benefit African-American recording artists to this day I think. And as for Latifah's performance- performer, artist, bi-sexual lover, African-American woman, abused child, addict, etc... let's just say this is the performance of her career no doubt- and watch out at Emmy and Golden Globe-time this coming awards season... Michael K. Williams ("Boardwalk Empire"), Khandi Alexander, Monique and Oliver Platt co- star. And wow!-I saw a writing credit attributed to- Horton Foote!- which I checked out at Wikipedia. Apparently he was involved at a time Columbia Pictures was going to produce this movie way back when in the '80s I think..??- before the Zanucks (2 of the films' executive producers) took this project over in the early '90s.

japonaliya (spoilers)OK. this is going to be the shortest review you have ever read.....How can one take this movie seriously when Bessie Smith's greatest song. "Nobody Knows You" (When You're Down and Out" isn't in the movie!!!!!!!!!(or did I sleep through it?)I first heard of Bessie Smith through the John Hammond sessions sparked by The 1960's Spencer Davis Group's version of the song, sung by Stevie Winwood. Maybe it was a copyright thing like in the Jimi Hendrix bio, but I doubt it as the song is so old. This would be like the George Gershwin Story without Rhapsody in Blue! Or Billy Holiday bio without Strange Fruit! Finally, this quote from Wiki:"Bessie Smith recorded the song with instrumental accompaniment, including a small trumpet section. When Smith's record was released on September 13, 1929 (a Friday), the lyrics turned out to be oddly prophetic. The New York stock market had reached an all-time high less than two weeks earlier, only to go into its biggest decline two weeks later in the Wall Street Crash of 1929, which signaled the beginning of the ten-year Great Depression.Bessie Smith's "Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out" became one of her biggest hits, but was released before "race records" were tracked by record industry publications, such as Billboard magazine. *******Today, it "more than any other, is the song that most people associate with Bessie Smith".[3]******Q.L was fine as an actress. she can sing and did a reasonable Smith impression, but when all is said and done (according to THIS HBO movie, nothing much happens to Bessie, esp compared to Billy Holiday, or Ray Charles etc. etc Lost her mother, raised by a tyrannical older sister, otherwise not much real drama. The only nod to the dramatic is when her husband leaves her and takes their adopted son away, and of course the haunted locked refrigerator!!Not very much the scheme of things to sing the blues about

rossini-1868 The camera has a love affair with Queen Latifah from beginning to end in this tour de force, a performance that may have been worthy of an Oscar, let alone the Emmy she is destined to receive. The movie was co-executive produced by the late Richard Zanuck, based on a story by the late Oscar winning screenwriter Horton Foote, and their posthumous talent is impressively displayed at every level. The screenplay was smart enough not to try and convert the audience to liking the blues, which is always an acquired taste, instead focusing on the intense drama that was this woman's personal life, from childhood traumas (i.e. being chased by her older sister with a knife), to lesbian love affairs as a grown woman. Thanks mainly to Queen Latifah's amazing performance, a basketful of Emmys should be in the future for this bold and seriously worthy TV drama.