Graffiti Bridge

The movie that put an abrupt stop to Prince's movie career. Oh, it's a bad movie, all right, but I don't quite get that it's one of the worst movies ever, or even that it's significantly worse than Purple Rain. Honestly, I think I prefer it, just a bit, to the 1984 film. It's far shorter and it's way goofier - doesn't take itself as seriously. Sure, Purple Rain - the album - is Prince's masterpiece, but the soundtrack to Graffiti Bridge, while more stuck in the late 80s/early 90s and less timeless, is pretty great, too. Plot-wise, the two films are pretty similar. Prince is the good guy, Morris Day is the bad guy. They both fight over a girl (here it's Ingrid Chavez, who is beautiful but lacks the charisma of Apollonia; she's most famous for co-writing the Madonna song "Justify My Love"). There are a lot of songs. The set design here is pretty fantastic, and gives the film a surreal feel. I'm surprised the film isn't more beloved by cult audiences. It's very weird. And laughable, but in a fun way. Morris Day threatened to be more interesting in Purple Rain, and he succeeds in being so here. Prince has far less presence.