Rating summary

Movie		1.5
Video		3.5
Audio		2.5
Extras		0.0
Overall		2.0

Glitter Blu-ray Movie Review

Apparently, it's not all gold after all.

Reviewed by Martin Liebman January 9, 2017

Is this the best time for Mariah Carey's Glitter to see a surge in notoriety with its release to Blu-ray? The world-famous singer was recently embarrassed by a faulty New Year's Eve Times Square performance in front of the entire world, and it was only a couple of years ago that a the raw vocal feed from a Holiday performance leaked to the world's horror. They say all publicity is good publicity, so maybe her recent headlines will spur on a few extra Blu-ray sales for her film, which is itself widely hailed as a cinema disaster, a movie desperate to find that cult audience that embraces the most popular of bad movies. As it is, Glitter needs no introduction but everything it can latch onto to help it find a new audience for its latest release. And for whatever may be right or wrong with the movie, it's at least a fair bit better than the superstar's latest flubs that once again see her in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons.

A star is born.

Billie Frank (Mariah Carey) grew up in an orphanage after being separated from her mother at a young age. She's a talented vocalist who, along with a couple of friends from said orphanage, are slowly working their way up the music business ladder. She and her friends are hired by a man named Timothy Walker (Terrence Howard) to sing backup for a fledgeling, no-talent performer. Billie's voice quickly captures her employers' attention, and when her vocal track supersedes the star's, her career gets a serious kickstart. She's discovered by a producer named Dice (Max Beesley) who promises to buy her out of her contract with Walker. Billie's star and stock in the industry soar, she begins a romantic relationship with Dice, and she seems on top of the world. But will the realities of the cutthroat music business stymie her creativity and slow down her search for the mother from whom she was separated so many years ago?

Glitter tells a terribly generic rags-to-riches story that offers a softly lined "edgy" look into the cutthroat music business where everyone's interest is in the bottom line, except for the artist, of course, who yearns only to use her music as an outlet to tell her story, explore her (you've got me feeling) emotions (deeper than I've ever dreamed of), and maybe even reunite with her long-lost and deeply troubled mother, herself, of course, once a singer, too. Glitter can't find anything of value to bring to the genre, content to allow Mariah to radiate her beauty and demonstrate her familiar (once?) vocal range and stylings. Less a meaty movie and more a crudely put together vehicle meant to propel its lead to stardom in front of the camera rather than only behind the microphone, the filmmakers have forgotten to ensure that the parts and pieces around its lead are capable of keeping up with the vocal talent Carey brings to the performance and the star power she brings to the movie.

All that said, Glitter just isn't apocalyptically awful. It's certainly a bad movie, but to label it amongst the worst of the worst is to undersell its would-be case study companions in awful moviemaking. Glitter is certainly nothing special. At the very least, it puts its pieces together competently and, even as the narrative lacks any genuine interest or novelty, it stays true along its linear A-to-B journey. It just lacks identity, even in its lead. Replace Carey with anyone who can carry a tune and there wouldn't be an inch of difference in the end product. Its problem isn't a lack creativity -- rehash movies are nothing new -- but rather its lack of authenticity, its linear focus on the face and voice rather than surrounding that face and voice with anything noteworthy or capable of lifting them higher. Director Vondie Curtis Hall (Waist Deep) seems content to simply capture the action, not shape it to better suit it, happy to simply point-and-shot and allow the film's simplest superficialities, as well as Carey's beauty and vocal talent, to carry it to whatever fate awaits.

Unfortunately, those performances cannot save the film, either. Carey is a much better singer than she is an actor (at least she was when Glitter released). She emotes with basic movements and never finds her character's soul, favoring a simple superficiality rather than a nuanced core that better, even average, performers capture in roles not much more complex or demanding than this. That said, the script gives her next to nothing with which to work, and her rather unremarkable performance only matches a largely unremarkable character shaping at the script level. Supporting performances are fine, though again fall victim to a lackluster script that challenges them to do little more than show up, get in costume, and know their lines. Even good actors like Terrance Howard and Dorian Harewood can't elevate the material, not necessarily because (it seems) they don't want to -- they don't sleepwalk through the movie -- but because it's like asking a Major League ballplayer to get in the box against a pitching machine throwing meatball after meatball right over the heart of the plate: it's not a challenge but rather that "walk in the park" level of ease that shows in every frame.

Glitter Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Glitter arrives on Blu-ray not with a shiny, sparkly transfer as the movie's name might suggest but, maybe better, or at least more expected, a rather simple and straightforward and never at all offensive 1080p presentation. The film opens in the past with a decidedly bleak, practically grayscale picture. As the action shifts to the "present" of 1983, it falls into its routine and displays a much more naturalistic contrast and color scheme. The platte isn't at all noticeably vibrant, but its baseline neutrality is a strength and it's enjoyably presented with enough core level accuracy to please. The image appears healthy and filmic, retains a very light grain structure, and never appears digitally tinkered or noise reduced. Details don't exactly leap off the screen, but the cinematic texturing allows faces, clothes, and environments to find a good, basic level of finer point detailing that, combined with the greater 1080p clarity the Blu-ray affords, presents the movie in a fairly good light. Black levels are never offensive and skin tones appear fairly accurate. The only truly noticeable issues comes by way of opening title wobble and the occasional pop or speckle marring the print, but such are minimal. Even with the antiquated MPEG-2 encode (which might be a new trend for Mill Creek), there's not much room for real complaint.

Glitter Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

That Glitter contains a multichannel 5.1 soundtrack -- even in a lossy configuration -- is welcome, but the presentation isn't without it warts. First, and chief amongst them, is a decided reservedness, a hush that renders music and dialogue in particular occasionally hard to hear, presented at a low inherent volume even with the home theater set at reference level. Even heavy dance club beats heard around the 10-minute mark don't offer any sort of energy or low end weight. Vocal and musical clarity are decent enough in a rather crude, "get the job done" sense, but prioritization and authority are again both real concerns. The track does offer a smattering of content spread beyond the front. Sirens wail in the background at the seven-minute mark, microphone drop reverberation in chapter eight is nicely spacious, and a fair sense of open space, environmental reverberation, and music presentation at a concert hall in chapter nine are nicely engaging through the entire stage. The track is baseline effective, though shallow dialogue makes it a problematic listen.

Glitter Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Mill Creek's Blu-ray release of Glitter contains no supplemental content. No in-movie "Pop-Up" menu is included. The top menu offers only a "Play" button. Subtitles must be toggled on or off in-film via the remote's "subtitle" button.

Glitter Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Glitter isn't a very good movie, but it's not really as poor as it's made out to be. Better to call it "painfully generic" than just "painful." The movie tells a competently put together, baseline rags-to-riches tale with an "insight" into the music business as seen through the eyes of a burgeoning superstar. It brings nothing new to the table, Mariah can't act very well, and the script gives neither her nor her co-stars anything meaty with which to work. It's not worth watching, but it's not worth trashing, either. Mill Creek's Blu-ray offers decent video, uneven lossy audio, and no supplements. Skip it.