Respect (2021)

Well like everyone in the universe I like Aretha Franklyn. Her songs move me, and if Aretha’s songs move you, you’ll be interested in seeing Respect. Especially, if you are not a true die-hard fan of the first lady of Soul. Her life was interesting and a lot of the best things in the movie are the “I did not know that” parts.

Jennifer Hudson was good. No one can expect to pull of the vocals like Mrs. Franklyn so I was not expecting that but Hudson’s got a good voice so I’m not disappointed. I could just tell she anit no Aretha. As far as the acting part, it did feel like Hudson was acting (She did not feel like a Natural Aretha) but in fairness I don’t know enough about Franklyn to tell that’s her actual personality Hudson is doing.

Marlon Wayans was impressive though. Always felt he was the best actor of the Wayans clan and his skills as such are always undermined by the fact that people expect him to be funny, but he caught me good with the persona he was playing. It’s a big part about what I liked about the movie.

As biopics go, I liked it more for filling in the gaps of my vague knowledge of Aretha Franklyn and her life was interesting enough to keep me interested for 2 and a half hours.