So we're all snowed in last night, and I see in the TV listings that Purple Rain is on Encore, and I'd always meant to see it because I like Prince's music, so I made a point of tuning it in at nine o'clock.

I had no idea how chokingly bad it is. Self-indulgent, unmotivated acting business; childish dialogue; line readings out of Jack Webb Dragnet days; and the narrative arc of a brick falling off a truck. Director/editor/writer Albert Magnoli hasn't edited or written since this 1984 stinker, and it's not hard to understand why.

The performance sections are fine, until Magnoli cuts to a reaction shot of Apollonia Kotero looking bovine. Good stuff for Leonard Pinth-Garnell.

posted: 3:29:27 PM