Main cast: Mariah Carey (Billie Frank), Max Beesley (Julian Dice), Da Brat (Louise), Tia Texada (Roxanne), and Valarie Pettiford (Lillian Frank)
Director: Vondie Curtis-Hall

Actually, Glitter isn’t as bad as I thought it would be. It’s still devoid of any decent fun factor or even campy fun, but it’s watchable. Too bad it is so predictable and dull that it’s a watchable waste of time.

Mariah Carey plays Billie Frank in her movie debut, and she pretty much plays a rag-to-riches mixed-parentage innocent good girl lost in the world of bad, greedy capitalist studio bosses and lecherous managers/fake buddies (say hi to Julian Dice). Say hi to the token girlfriends (Louise and Roxanne) who stay at home all day long to just pick up the phone when Billie needs an outlet to whine.

Apart from the cringe-inducing psychic/music nonsense towards the end, Glitter is a movie that brings out in spades all the tired plot devices any movie from Fame to Sparkle has used more effectively years before. Ms Carey demonstrates some decent acting ability – come on, really, she’s not that bad. Only a little wooden, but overall, watchable.

What lets this movie down is the script. The tired plot devices are one thing, but this movie doesn’t dare to be anything more than a superficial and glossy fairy tale. I can’t help but to wonder that the real Mariah Carey story will be more interesting. Like Ms Carey’s music, Glitter is a whitewashed, emotion-free version of her life, the life her PR folks and official autobiography will want the world to see – a sanitized, boring, and routine life so dull that I wonder why these people would think that people would pay money to see.

Oh well.