Aaliyah Lifetime Film Review: Aaliyah Debuts to Extremely Negative Reviews
"Aaliyah: The Princess of R&B" starring Alexandra Shipp drew the ire of viewers during its premiere on Lifetime a few days back, with some fans voicing out their unhappiness with the show.
Timbaland, who once worked with Aaliyah, severely criticized the biopic in 20 posts he made on Instagram. He even encouraged people to boycott the sponsors of the show.
Entertainment Weekly in its review described how the film was created amid a sea of controversies. Lead actress Zendaya Coleman left the movie production last June after critics pointed out to her bi-racial background which, they said, did not make her suitable for the role.
Reviews of the biopic have largely been scathing with almost all publications decrying how the biopic was cast and filmed. The biopic was fashioned after the novel "Aaliyah: More than a Woman," written by Christopher John Farley. It covered the entire period including the time when she married R. Kelly at 15. Her marriage with Kelly (she was 27 years old at the time) was afterwards annulled at the request of Aaliyah's parents.
In "Aaliyah: The Princess of R&B," Gawker notes that the film makes it appear as though she was in a healthy relationship with Kelly when in fact she was underage and her parents were trying to protect her.
Deadline notes that the biopic makes Kelly look like a saint which is not something Lifetime ought to do, given his involvement with underage girls. It also states that the film is a "soulless" interpretation of her life. It points out that Aaliyah's family did not allow the film to use her music and did not support it, eventually leading to a major decline in its credibility rating. AV Club goes further and mentions how the movie is "a tabloid take on well-publicized statutory rape."
Various social media sites were also flooded with extremely negative reactions to the film coming from fans and friends of Aaliyah. Twitter notably was used to spread memes that mocked the casting choices which saw Chattrisse Dolabaille playing Missy Elliott and Izaak Smith playing Timbaland.