Starring Teyonah Parris, Gary Dourdan, Darius McCrary, and Amari Cheatom
Directed by Christine Swanson
Music and Lyrics by Miki Howard and others
I'm going to be honest, both the subject matter and the channel that debuted this are entirely new to me. Miki Howard was an R&B diva who had her biggest hits in the 80's and early 90's. Neither her early life, nor her love life were anywhere near as glamorous. Her troubled teen years and habit of marrying men who used her as a doormat boomeranged back at her later, when she fell heavily into drug and alcohol addiction. By 2016, she was attempting a comeback and was well-remembered enough by R&B fans to be the subject of this biography. How does all of this come across on the small screen? Let's begin with sixteen-year-old Michelle "Miki" Howard (Parris) fleeing to a friend's home in 1974 and find out...
The Story: Miki had a rough life, even before her mother Josephine (Vanessa Bell Calloway) threw her out after a boy attacked her. Josephine, a gospel singer, loved her daughter but resented her stealing the spotlight at her concerts and at church. Miki just couldn't resist being in the spotlight wherever she went. She and a friend went out to a disco, which is where she first encounters Augie Johnson (Dourdan). She records a single for them, then is thrown out of her friend's house when she resents Miki getting the attention and insults her homeless status.
Augie, as it turns out, is no prize either. Though they have two children together, he cheats on her and discourages her from leaving the group. After she leaves him, she signs with Atlantic Records who is willing to let her go solo. Not only does she have a series of hit R&B singles, but she falls in love with fellow singer Gerald Levert (McCrary) who inspires some of her best and most popular work. She's a global sensation who tops the R&B chart and appears in films, but her producers want her to become a pop diva like Whitney Houston.
Miki finally leaves Gerald for smooth-talking producer Eddie Phelps (Cheatom). She also leaves Atlantic for Giant Records when she can't work with Gerald anymore. Eddie claims he's interested in helping her raise a family, but their relationship just ends with him abusing her and trying to control her. He career spirals downwards after she almost literally throws him out. She falls into heavy drug and alcohol addiction and can barely function or take care of her children. It's not until she almost dies of a drug overdose that she goes into therapy and realizes that what she really needs is to learn to respect herself, and that her life and that of her children are worth far more than any of the fame and fortune in the world.
The Song and Dance: Damn, if any of this is remotely the truth, I feel very sorry for Miki. The abuse here is raw, real, and scary. It's hard to watch on film, let alone in real-life. Parris nails Miki, playing her as a vulnerable woman who has been thrown around and smacked around all her life, until she literally has sense frightened into her. McCrary comes off best of the three men as the most abusive and jerk-ish of the three loves in her life. Callaway also has some good moments as the mother who pushes her daughter away when she sees the woman she's becoming. Some really gorgeous costumes too, especially in the late 80's and 90's when Howard was at the height of her fame.
The Numbers: We open with the gospel song "Somebody Loves Me" as we see a montage of how Miki fell out with her mother and was thrown out of her home. Miki records "Just Not Enough" with two other women for Augie when he invites them to his studio, but her friend doesn't appreciate her getting Augie's attention. We get a cover of "Good Morning Heartache" as Miki wanders around LA after her friend's mother throws her out. She and Augie start a family and achieve minor success as part of Side Effect in a montage to the tune of the Toto cover "Georgy Porgy."
After she signs to Atlantic, she finally gets a hit solo single in the uptempo ballad "Come and Share My Love." "I Feel for You" takes us to the party where she meets Gerald. They duet on the romantic "That's What Love Is," which covers their relationship and her first major tour. The title song gives us her marriage to Eddie and his insistence on changing labels. "Ain't Nothin' of the World" shows her continuing success on albums and in films, even as her relationship with Eddie deteriorates. "Ain't Nobody Like You" gives us her biggest hit single and the video for it, even as she demands money from the drug-addled head of the label. The movie ends with her real-life comeback, performing a more jazz-oriented reprise of "Ain't Nobody Like You."
Trivia: This was the highest-rated movie ever on TV One, an African-American oriented cable channel.
What I Don't Like: Note the discussion of the heavy abuse scenes up there. There's violence, drug, alcohol, and marital abuse, strong language, and Miki pulls a gun on Eddie in front of her children at one point. This is absolutely not for kids. See if you can dig up Howard's albums for them first. As mentioned, the violence level makes it hard to watch at times, especially in the middle when Eddie's all but attacking her. It's also a mess of cliches, though the grittier tone does make this a bit more original than some recent music biographies.
The Big Finale: Adult R&B and jazz fans who can deal with the violence level may find this story of abuse and redemption to be fascinating, if just for the performances.
Home Media: Not on disc at press time, but it can be found on many streaming sites for free with commercials, including Tubi and Plex.
No comments:
Post a Comment