Of course the plot is hackneyed and the acting (except for Morris and Jerome, who are great) awkward. In some sense that just makes the music feel more authentic by contrast. Prince in 1984 was at the top of his game, a musical genius who (at a time when black and white music were incredibly segregated) was bringing together everything from punk to funk to heavy metal in a singular fusion that pointed the way to a race-blind future. This picture (along with its soundtrack, and his other perfect album "1999") is the legacy.
Review of Purple Rain
