Double Platinum (1999)

A young singer is reunited with the mother who left her when she was a child.

Director:

Robert Allan Ackerman

Writer:

Nina Shengold

Stars:

Diana Ross, Brandy Norwood, Christine Ebersole

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Diana Ross	...	Olivia King
Brandy Norwood	...	Kayla Harris (as Brandy)
Christine Ebersole	...	Peggy
Allen Payne	...	Ric Ortega
Brian Stokes Mitchell	...	Adam Harris
Roger Rees	...	Marc Reckler
Samantha Brown	...	Royana
Ed Lover	...	Party Ardie
Peter Francis James	...	Martin Holly
Harvey Fierstein	...	Gary Millstein
Marie Lillo
Lou Carbonneau
Adriane Lenox
John Di Benedetto	...	(as John DiBenedetto)
Bernard Addison

Storyline

A young singer is reunited with the mother who left her when she was a child.

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Plot Keywords:

mother daughter relationship

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Taglines:

Love is all that matters.

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Genres:

Musical | Drama

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

16 May 1999 (USA)

Also Known As:

Doble platino

Filming Locations:

Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Anaid Film Productions Inc., Columbia TriStar Television, Norwood Ent. Group

Technical Specs

Runtime:

94 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The closing duet "Love is All That Matters" was expected to be released as a single but has only ever appeared as a Diana Ross solo track on her album "Everyday is a New Day".

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Goofs

When Kayla is singing the club, Olivia walks in and Kayla covers her mouth but the voice in the song keeps going. So, obviously it was pre-recorded and she was lip-syncing.

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Quotes

Kayla Harris: Don't start on Ric because you don't even know him.
Olivia King: I've known a lot of Rics. *You* don't know him.
Kayla Harris: Yeah. About a week less than I've known you.

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Connections

References Mommie Dearest (1981)

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Soundtracks

"Almost Doesn't Count"
Brandy Norwood

User Reviews

A 90 minute advert for Brandy's album - terrible

Small time singer Olivia King is offered a label contract and takes it even though it means she moves away from her husband and her baby daughter. 18 years later she is famous and she arranges to meet her daughter and introduce herself. To repay for the hurt Olivia arranges for Kayla to get a record deal to start her off – but the hurt between the two is never far away.

I approached this with an open mind as I quite like Brandy as a singer. The plot is just poorly developed from start to finish. The soul searching never goes deep enough and things are resolved a little too easily for my liking. At least 30% of the film is singing, so if you don't like Brandy then you'll be lost here. I like her but the film's timing put me off a bit – it was made at roughly the same time as her album (where all the songs come from) and hence it feels like an advert for her album at times.

Ross is a terrible actress – if you don't believe then watch this, she can't even bop in the background convincingly! Brandy is less bad but has two faults. One is she can't cry on cue and any tearful scene we only get to see her with wet streak put onto her face by makeup. Also she overplays the ethnic stereotype of attitude at time (snapping fingers, wiggling necks, talk to the hand etc), it's irritating but she doesn't do it too often happily. The rest of the cast are poor TV actors at best with the only other big name being Harvey Fierstein – and when he's one of your `big names' then you know you're in the s***.

Overall this is a poorly made tearjerker that isn't well written. It seems to be structured to allow as many musical numbers as possible. If you want to she Brandy sing then this is for you – if not then avoid this.