There are some great things about this movie; Megan Good works hard to humanize her character, Mylessa Ford has fun as a bad girl and we like it, and this projects looks well put together more so than most films with a similar target audience. You can actually see the budget being put on screen here.
Unfortunately it stops there. The problems lie in the story telling and at the end, the audience doesn't really... care.
Problem 1: the 'Shark' character. He's build up to be the bad guy, a possessive boyfriend that hinders our heroine's progress to become the next great talent in Hollywood. We see glimpses of these actions with vague hints of mental and physical abuse. But the clichés that ultimately make our heroine (Megan Goode) spiral out of control into her ultimate tragedy are exactly what he was trying to protect her from so is he 'really' the bad guy? A simpler way to explain it: picture your mom telling you not to see a certain friend, he's a bad influence; he's going to get you into trouble. You disobey and do so any way. Later you end up an accomplice to a murder he committed? Is your mother 'really' the bad guy? Problem 2: Real life video girls Mylessa Ford, Suelyn Medeiros and Esther Baxter are underused. While Mylessa is clearly a negative influence there is not enough screen time so you can accompany Goode as she spirals down her slope. We as the audience should first be enamored by Ford to follow her down the path, and then be tempted by the apple once we get there. Ultimately we are not. We're just given these very obvious 'movie-moments,' that while high light Ford, are so very contrived and again, cliché and ultimately steal away the connection with Goode. The brief scenes of Ford are clearly her best as she actually looks like she's having fun with the role, much more than her past ones. Suelyn (whom I saw in Still A Teen, which was God awful) and Esther (Just Another Day, much better film) are mere glimpses on the screen. Do not blink or you'll miss them. It would have been far more interesting to see them used as character defining personalities then the set dressing which they're reduced to. A blown opportunity as their public life already adds a layer to them while they're on screen.
Problem 3: The trite ending. All of the bad things that happen when you possibly get in the industry happen to her. Each of which takes an entire film to tell the story and effectively explain the subject matter. Here, it's all thrown into a pot and mixed like some kind of movie gumbo. And it all gets resolved in a counseling session? One very annoying technique the clearly shows that a writer is very BAD at the job of story telling is the ending the film with a monologue that explains the conclusion. The prose here is even made worse when the heroine is NOT the one that comes to the resolution but has her counselor tell her how she should be.
There are essentially 3 other problems I have with this film, none of which I'll explain if only to save you repetitive points on why this isn't a good movie. There issues with the shot selection, the direction to go hand held instead of staying on sticks, and the indecision by the director/cinematographer: 'does he want glamorous or gritty?' I can't recommend this. The popularity of Karrine Steffans book helped torpedoed this film once the writer typed the opening words of this script on his laptop. He was fighting a loosing battle. It didn't even try to reach the level shock value 'Video Vixen' did, a book which everyone knows the contents of. And ultimately because of that, this film falls short on every level.
Unfortunately it stops there. The problems lie in the story telling and at the end, the audience doesn't really... care.
Problem 1: the 'Shark' character. He's build up to be the bad guy, a possessive boyfriend that hinders our heroine's progress to become the next great talent in Hollywood. We see glimpses of these actions with vague hints of mental and physical abuse. But the clichés that ultimately make our heroine (Megan Goode) spiral out of control into her ultimate tragedy are exactly what he was trying to protect her from so is he 'really' the bad guy? A simpler way to explain it: picture your mom telling you not to see a certain friend, he's a bad influence; he's going to get you into trouble. You disobey and do so any way. Later you end up an accomplice to a murder he committed? Is your mother 'really' the bad guy? Problem 2: Real life video girls Mylessa Ford, Suelyn Medeiros and Esther Baxter are underused. While Mylessa is clearly a negative influence there is not enough screen time so you can accompany Goode as she spirals down her slope. We as the audience should first be enamored by Ford to follow her down the path, and then be tempted by the apple once we get there. Ultimately we are not. We're just given these very obvious 'movie-moments,' that while high light Ford, are so very contrived and again, cliché and ultimately steal away the connection with Goode. The brief scenes of Ford are clearly her best as she actually looks like she's having fun with the role, much more than her past ones. Suelyn (whom I saw in Still A Teen, which was God awful) and Esther (Just Another Day, much better film) are mere glimpses on the screen. Do not blink or you'll miss them. It would have been far more interesting to see them used as character defining personalities then the set dressing which they're reduced to. A blown opportunity as their public life already adds a layer to them while they're on screen.
Problem 3: The trite ending. All of the bad things that happen when you possibly get in the industry happen to her. Each of which takes an entire film to tell the story and effectively explain the subject matter. Here, it's all thrown into a pot and mixed like some kind of movie gumbo. And it all gets resolved in a counseling session? One very annoying technique the clearly shows that a writer is very BAD at the job of story telling is the ending the film with a monologue that explains the conclusion. The prose here is even made worse when the heroine is NOT the one that comes to the resolution but has her counselor tell her how she should be.
There are essentially 3 other problems I have with this film, none of which I'll explain if only to save you repetitive points on why this isn't a good movie. There issues with the shot selection, the direction to go hand held instead of staying on sticks, and the indecision by the director/cinematographer: 'does he want glamorous or gritty?' I can't recommend this. The popularity of Karrine Steffans book helped torpedoed this film once the writer typed the opening words of this script on his laptop. He was fighting a loosing battle. It didn't even try to reach the level shock value 'Video Vixen' did, a book which everyone knows the contents of. And ultimately because of that, this film falls short on every level.