Respect Review

Photo Credit - United Artists Releasing/MGM

For the second time in six months, a project based on the life of Aretha Franklin is hitting the screen. Starring a handpicked by the Queen of Soul Jennifer Hudson for the lead role (we’ll ignore the fact Franklin spent years trying to get Halle Berry to take the part before Hudson landed it), Respect is the latest and final entry into the Aretha Franklin biopic battle.

The first, National Geographic’s Genius: Aretha, was met with solid reviews and, as predicted here, earned Cynthia Erivo an Emmy nomination for her portrayal of Franklin. Does Respect have similar results or better on the horizon?

In journalism, there’s a thing called burying the lede - failure or delay in sharing a story’s most essential part(s) due to focusing on its secondary parts. Respect is burying the lede materialized.

The sole issue for Respect is an underdeveloped script. It’s not a comprehensive account of Franklin’s life, which is forgivable considering it would take a multi-part project to cover everything. The problem is how Respect handles the limited period it covers.

Tracey Wilson Scott’s script touches on several well-documented events of Franklin’s childhood and young adult ages, but nothing beyond pointing out that they happened. There are no details about how she coped with the traumas of losing her mother early or being sexually assaulted and pregnant at 12. Nothing remotely indicating how Franklin survived the toxic and abusive relationships with the men in her life.

Plenty of time and scenes are spent on those topics, but the lack of attention to Franklin’s processing of them makes her a bystander because her voice in those matters remained muted.

Despite the shortcomings of the script, the performances in Respect are impressive. Hudson has her best outing since Dreamgirls. Her musical performances as Franklin, especially her “Ain’t No Way” cover, are strong, but her command of the scenes in the film’s final quarter is just as stirring.

Marlon Wayans also stands out as Ted White in his most sobering role to date. He’s equal parts charming and sinister and probably could have been even better if he used his normal speaking voice instead of the strange accent he uses throughout the film. Forest Whitaker and Marc Maron also earn high marks in their supporting turns as C.L. Franklin and Jerry Wexler, respectively.

Sadly, the notable supporting performances come at the cost of further silencing Aretha. Hudson is often left watching like she’s in the theater as Wayans, Whitaker, and/Maron eat up a lot of the dialogue in the scenes they share. You only have the opportunity to see what she can do with the non-musical settings in the previously mentioned last quarter of the film because of a script that doesn’t give its star the lines she needs.

Ultimately, Respect is the latest addition to the growing list of films that expects to get by solely through placing a recognizable Black figure on the screen. It hopes that the audience is so in awe of having a movie about Franklin that they ignore she’s silenced for most of it. It expects you just to be happy you’re in the building as it delivers nothing you couldn’t get from a quick Google search with the soundtrack playing in the background. Audiences deserve better than this and The Queen and her legacy are undoubtedly worthy of more.

People who call themselves fans of Aretha may enjoy Respect. Folks who are legitimately fans of Aretha will be better served watching Genius or the 2018 documentary Amazing Grace to get their fill of her.