Quartile rating: 7/10 · 1 rating
The rise of Aretha Franklin’s career from a child singing in her father’s church’s choir to her international superstardom.
Jennifer Hudson delivers a powerhouse performance as Aretha Franklin, widely considered the standout element of this biographical drama. However, the film follows a fairly conventional music biopic formula — troubled upbringing, rise to fame, personal struggles, redemption — without distinguishing itself structurally or narratively from peers like Ray or Walk the Line. The cinematography is competent and period-appropriate but unremarkable. The ending, culminating in the recording of the gospel album Amazing Grace, carries genuine emotional weight but arrives predictably. Novelty suffers from the by-the-numbers biopic structure despite the extraordinary subject matter.