Glitter is a 2001 American drama film directed by Vondie Curtis-Hall and starring pop/R&B singer, songwriter Mariah Carey. It was produced by 20th Century Fox and Columbia Pictures. It centers on the life and times of a struggling singer from the early club music scene in the 1980s. Its soundtrack album, Glitter, was Carey's eighth studio album, a concept album of the sounds of the early 1980s. Largely panned by critics and audiences alike, the movie performed poorly in theaters after it was labeled a vanity project and being an almost autobiographical account of Carey's life.
The film was shot in Hamilton, Ontario; Toronto, Ontario; and New York City.[2]
History
Carey has said about the film, "It's in the early '80s, in the club scene of that time. I play a singer, Billie, who's mixed race, from a white father and a black mother. Billie grows up in a foster home, because her mother abandoned her. Later on she meets a DJ and becomes a star in just one night. The point is, that all this time she waits for her mother to return. As you can see, this is far away from my reality, because I couldn't have a closer relationship with my own mother. When she's not with me, she calls like every five minutes."[3]
Plot summary
The film begins in a nightclub, where Lillian (Billie's mother) is a performer. Lillian tries to rouse the crowd with her torch song, "Lillie's Blues," with Billie accompanying her on vocals. The ploy fails and Lillian is fired. After asking her ex-lover (Billie's father) for money, a defeated Lillian falls asleep while smoking a cigarette and accidentally starts a fire, causing the building to be evacuated. Due to her mother's actions, Billie is fostered. Lillian promises she will regain custody but never does.
Years later, the adult Billie is a club dancer along with her foster-care friends Louise and Roxanne. They meet Timothy Walker, who offers a contract as backup singers/dancers to the singer Sylk. Initially, Billie refuses, hoping to achieve stardom on her own terms. After pestering from her friends, Billie relents and the three are contracted. They record the hit single, "All My Life" but Sylk's vocal is sub-standard. To maximize sales based on the sex appeal of Sylk, Timothy asks Billie to sing while Sylk lip-syncs.
Later at a nightclub – DJ'd by Julian "Dice" Black – Sylk debuts "All My Life." Dice, knowing that Sylk is an indifferent singer, is shocked but goes backstage to congratulate her. Sylk insults her backing singers in front of a photographer and Billie, not wanting to take the verbal abuse, exposes Sylk by singing "All My Life" a cappella in front of Dice. Impressed, he wishes to produce her but Billie turns him down. When she relents, she raises concerns about her contract with Timothy. Dice threatens to not play any more artists from Timothy in his nightclub unless Timothy surrenders Billie and friends' contacts. Timothy eventually agrees on the provision that Dice pays him $100,000.
Billie and Dice start working on songs: the first being the hit underground single, "I Didn't Mean to Turn You On." Dice advises Billie to play off record companies to secure a bigger deal. Ultimately they sign with Guy Richardson of a major record label. With success in their hands, Dice asks Billie to dinner. Afterwords, he asks her up to his apartment and they sleep together.
Billie's first major single, "Loverboy" is a huge success. The music video originally features Billie, Louise and Roxanne. However, the director, dissatisfied with the results, orders Billie to wear more revealing clothing and replaces Louise and Roxanne with professional semi-nude male dancers. When the male dancers are then ordered to dance closely to Billie, this frightens her. Dice intervenes on her behalf, and they leave the set before the music video can be finished.
Dice is denied permission to produce songs on Billie's debt, including "Reflections," which Billie wrote about her mother. Billie is called to perform at the USA Music Awards, where she meets singer/songwriter Rafael. Later at the party, they meet again, and Rafael suggests they write a song. Dice orders Billie and her friends to leave, accusing Rafael of sexual advances towards Billie. Louise and Roxanne give Billie an ultimatum: them or Dice, but leave before she can choose. Billie later cries but is comforted by Dice as she laments "If you didn't believe in me, none of this would have ever happened."
The reconciliation is short-lived as Billie gets a threat from Timothy concerning the debt that Dice failed to pay. Billie tells Dice that Timothy was at their apartment about his debt and her contract. She is confused because she thought he had handled her contract properly. She admits to Dice that Timothy threatened her and Dice, in a rage, puts Timothy in the hospital. In the middle of the beating, Dice is arrested, causing Billie to leave her appearance on Saturday Night Live, to bail him out. Billie, upset about how Dice lied about her contract and his arrest, argues with and ends up leaving him. With nowhere to go, she goes back to live with Roxanne and Louise.
Billie tries to deal with the pain by creating the single "Want You," with Rafael, which is a hit, but her emotional pain leads her to solo songwriting. Dice also misses Billie, and also begins writing a song. Billie goes to Dice's apartment in an attempt to reconcile. He's not home, but the music he has written is and Billie realizes they wrote the same song: "Never Too Far." She kisses the sheet music, leaving a lipstick imprint, which Dice later discovers.
Dice plans a reconciliation but is shot dead by Timothy. Billie's management and support crew see a report of the murder on television. They wonder if Billie was with him, they see that she is there and has seen the report. Billie onstage commands the band to stop playing "Loverboy," tells the crowd never to take someone for granted, and that if you love them, you should tell them, because you might never have the chance to tell them how you really feel. She then starts to sing "Never Too Far."
Afterwords Billie reads a note Dice had left her, where he tells of his love for her, his plan to see her perform and that he has found Billie's mother. Billie's limo takes her to the secluded rural property where she is reunited with her mother.
Critical and commerical reception
The reviews Glitter received were mostly negative[4] and it became a box-office failure.[5] In the United States, it was released in 1,196 theaters and was the eleventh highest-grossing movie over its opening weekend, taking in $2,414,596.[6] It was originally scheduled to open over Labor Day weekend, but the film was pushed back three weeks when Carey was admitted to a hospital for extreme exhaustion.[7] The film eventually grossed $5.2 million worldwide, less than a quarter of its $22 million budget.[5]
Carey stated in 2002, "It (Glitter) started out as a concept with substance, but it ended up being geared to 10-year-olds."[7] The film was panned by critics, and many labeled it as one of the worst of all time.[8]. The Village Voice proclaimed, "For her part, Carey seems most concerned about keeping her lips tightly sealed like a kid with braces, and when she tries for an emotion—any emotion—she looks as if she's lost her car keys."[9] Roger Ebert spoke relatively well of Carey's individual performance saying, "Her [Carey's] acting ranges from dutiful flirtatiousness to intense sincerity...."[10] However, he ended with, "And above all, the film is lacking in joy. It never seems like it's fun to be Billie Frank."[11]
At the 2001 Golden Raspberry Awards, the film received 5 nominations and one win, for Carey who received the Razzie for Worst Actress.[12] Many critics have labeled the film as one of the worst of all time.[8] The accompanying soundtrack, Glitter, became Carey's worst showing on the charts. The first single, "Loverboy" peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100. Two follow-up singles did not crack the Hot 100 at all. The album itself initially struggled to go gold in the U.S. Since then, it has been certified platinum.[13] The record company Virgin/EMI dropped Carey from the label due to the poor reception of the album.
Furthermore, 20th Century Fox decided not to release the DVD in the USA, giving up their rights to the international distributors, Columbia Pictures.[citation needed]
Cast
See also
References
External links
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