Double Platinum (1999) (TV)

Director:

Robert Allan Ackerman

Writer (WGA):

Nina Shengold (written by)

Release Date:

16 May 1999 (USA)

Genre:

Musical | Drama

Tagline:

Love is all that matters.

Plot:

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

Plot Keywords:

Mother Daughter Relationship

Cast

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)
Jacinto Taras Riddick

Runtime:

94 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Iceland:L | Germany:o.Al. | USA:PG | Argentina:Atp

Filming Locations:

Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Anaid Film Productions Inc.

Trivia:

Based solely on Brandy Norwood's singing career

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: 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.

Quotes:

Peggy: [before showing her a tabloid of her and Kayla] This is not gonna make your day. The good news is they got it right. The bad new is they got it all.
Olivia King: Oh, my God! Oh, God!

Movie Connections:

References Mommie Dearest (1981)

Soundtrack:

He Lives in You

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.