Who payed the critics

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

What is worse, even this 1990's Prince's flick was a total disaster. No wonder both Madonna and Kim Bassinger turned it down. The so-called sequel to equally tasteless Purple Rain is a vanity project for Prince, empty from the start and nothing but a waste of effort, time, money and patience. Bad to the very marrow, it again shows how fragile and slick Prince was as an actor, how schematic the plot is, how languidly the story unveils. Yest another failure. D'oh, sorry

This was Prince's third and last dramatic movie role. I am a Prince fan, and I loved the music. It is very unfortunate that Prince's ego got the better of him in this film. He really, really should have stayed with creating the music while letting a professional screenwriter come up with a storyline and script.It's not too late for Prince to get back into the movie business. In fact, I would really like to see him back on the big screen. But again, he should stick to creating the music and maybe taking a small acting role in a film that is written, produced, and directed by professionals.

First off I will say that I am not a prince fan. I have nothing bad to say about him or his music or his movies, I am just not into it. However I love this movie. I've read a lot of horrible reviews about it, and all I can say to them is that most of them are due to the fact that you are trying to compare movies. On its own this movie is beautiful, the schematics of it, the scenery and set design, and the use of music to tell the story. To watch this movie on its own without a mind bias of assuming that because you liked and understood the previous movies, you will like and understand this one...you find many elements of it that do appeal. The fact that there was very little speaking and more body language is beautiful, The total distinction between all of the characters is beautiful. The total distinction in each and every song being unique is beautiful. When I first saw this movie the one thing that outright attracted me was "Aura". Ingrid Chavez's use of body language, in particular her facial expressions throughout this film are amazing. Each character had a very clear role and very clearly expressed what that role is. The set designs are both nostalgic and creative without being too overly artistic, there is no exact time and place for this film, sometimes you think you're in the 1920's in a back alley of a speakeasy, sometimes you think you're in the 1980's dreaming about the 1990's. I believe the main thing that causes people to dislike this movie so much is a misunderstanding of the roles and the purposes in it. yes it is a battle between good and evil in a sense, but good(the kid) and evil(morris day) are NOT the focus points of it. The focus is Aura. In a chess game it is necessary to protect the king, however the queen is the most powerful player on the board and it is very difficult to win a game if she is lost unless her sacrifice is so that the king or the other players are in position to check mate. she can move in any direct and any amount of spaces. Ingrid Chavez did that very well. Aura was quiet yet not silenced, she only spoke when necessary and all the rest was expressed in her face. she did just what anyone else would do in her situation, knowing what the outcome would be, she still attempted to get there in other ways. Along side of the character of Aura, is the music. People are forgetting that this is NOT just a movie but a musical. Musicals are meant to be expressive and theatrical, they are not meant to WOW you like other films by visuals and plots. They are meant to open your mind and make you think and possibly find answers to things you don't know. Does anyone know if angels exist? Would you know an angel if you saw one? Could someones heart really truly be bad? Can people change? Is all music good or just the kind that makes us dance? Do actions speak louder than words? Do sinners have souls? All these questions can be pondered by watching this movie. But most people don't see that, all they see is that this movie isn't like Purple Rain, or Under the Cherry Moon, all they can see is that they have to think a little bit in order to enjoy it and since it isn't spelled out for them or so overly artistic that it must have reason then it must be the "worst prince movie ever". For Prince fans they don't see that, all they see is that Prince is not the main point, he is not as involved in it as he was in the other films, there are even less scenes with him even in it, and to them the music doesn't compare to the outright served up on a silver platter music of the others. it must be the "worst prince movie ever". Loose all of your biases, and this movie becomes one of the classic good movies. The main bias to loose is that this is not a Prince Movie...It's a Movie/Musical from the mind of Prince.

Maybe I'm not the best person to judge a Prince film as I am partial to his music. And, while he's no De Niro, with his expressive face, I don't think he's that terrible an actor either. I wouldn't particularly want to see him taking on "straight" roles, but he gives a performance that can carry a well-meaning musical, as indeed this is.Yet despite all this, Graffiti Bridge is a movie I had low expectations of after poor reviews and a straight-to-video release in the UK. Not only that, but the soundtrack album, an eclectic collection of songs at best, was perhaps Prince's only faux pas in his strong 1980-1991 period. While Controversy may have been indulgent and Batman/Diamonds and Pearls more progressively mainstream, none of the albums contained anything as truly terrible as this film's title song, arguably the worst Prince song of all time.Yet the film – an unofficial sequel to Purple Rain - is surprisingly entertaining. The direction by Prince himself is remarkably assured, and while the performances by fellow musicians aren't quite so polished, they are fun, Morris Day particularly. Only Ingrid Chavez really disappoints with a slightly wooden diction. The script isn't all that hot, though Prince shows noted self-effacement in the dialogue on occasion. (He's alternately described as a "little cricket" and a "little prick" at various stages). As he himself said around the time, he wasn't trying to be Francis Ford Coppola.The deliberately cartoonish, pseudo-noir sets evoke memories of the Tim Burton Batman movies, while the variable song material works far better within the film's framework than as a stand-alone CD spin-off. All are present and correct from said album, except the opener "Can't Stop This Feeling I Got". The movie also contains four songs not on the soundtrack – "Seven Corners", "Blondie", "Jerk Out" and "Number 1". In the case of the latter, a trite ditty performed by Robin Power, this is perhaps fortunate. The tracks are arguably more derivative than usual – the funky "Shake!" has a chord line more than a little similar to "96 Tears". Though that said, while not first-rate Prince, songs like New Power Generation, Thieves in the Temple and Still Would Stand All Time are above standard. Even weaker efforts like The Question of U and Elephants & Flowers seem improved within this context, even if the miming doesn't always convince.Some of the dance sequences – The Time performing Release It and, in particular, prodigiously talented Tevin Campbell with Round and Round - are excellent. Some of the dialogue passages ("Abandoned on the street at the tender age of seven, how could I ever learn the real meaning of Heaven?") indicate the artist's increasing pretension and loss of irony, however. While the repetitious drama inherent – Prince as noble romantic underdog hero; Day as all-powerful, lecherous villain – doesn't really go anywhere, but this is by no means the turkey it's trumped up to be. Admittedly more of a film for aficionados of Prince and his music, as a light-hearted showcase of said subject it succeeds admirably. Post-script, August 2016: When I reviewed this 15 years ago I said "Maybe I'm not the best person to judge a Prince film"... how right I was. Somehow managing to give it 6/10, I watched what is a sub-par movie through Purple tinted glasses. Prince fans might enjoy this film... but only once.