Don't listen to the negative reviews

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

"Star 80" is a powerful film, the story may be distasteful but it's true. Fosse's unique style of film making is used to full potential here, and it's really sad that he didn't make less musicals and more thriller/dramas because he does it best. No brains but lot's of emotions in both principal characters paved the way to their self destruction and this is the ultimate rise and fall story of any star that burned out on a jet propelled climb to success. No matter what's the cause, drinking, drugs legal or illegal, violence, the end is always the same. Fosse shows that brilliantly cross cutting from bunch of clips of Stratten and Snider's past, in which the seeds of their volatile relationship are planted, to grow an ugly plant, fertilized on Snider's frustrations, fueling his anger that drowned them both in his whirlpool of self pity."Star 80" is along with "Lenny" the best of Bob Fosse's short but brilliant career.It surely deserves a better DVD transfer than it's 1998 Snap Case, Pan & Scan , 1.33:1, widescreen grainy look. Worth of repeated seeing.

Star 80 (Bob Fosse, 1983) – based on the true story of tragic fated Playboy's Playmate of the Year Dorothy Stratten, played by Woody Allen girl (REALLY a girl, anyone who's seen Allen's Manhattan would agree =/) Mariel Hemingway. It follows the story of how Stratten came to meet her murderer: her husband Paul Snider, played by Julia's big brother, Eric Roberts. Directed by Bob Fosse, whose films' like Cabaret and All That Jazz I've loved in the past for their decadent depictions of love, sex and show, the film starts by showing us the decay and the progress of Snider's anger, as he one day meets Dorothy and starts seeing her as an opportunity for success. What Fosse achieved in Cabaret and All That Jazz so effortlessly was that the flow of those films seemed invisible: they're both rather lengthy, they're both kind of raunchy, yet the energy in which he brings into his actors and into his direction make it all look so easy. Unfortunately, this is not the case for this film. Often we see the story fractured by interviews of people who knew Dorothy or Paul, trying to tell us things we're kind of already seeing in the film by these small character's reactions. By this Fosse seems willing to capture a documentary feel into the film, but it just seems unrealistic, not to mention some of the dialogues of these faux-interviews just come out so unnatural, and the saddest of all, it breaks the rhythm of the film considerably, which like I've already said seems to be Fosse's forte. Another glaring flaw in the picture seems to be some sort of unintentional sadism in the way the story's being told: rushedly shot only 3 years after the incident, the decision of filming the tragic climax in the same department where the real Dorothy Stratten was murdered, are often very obvious aspects the film never tries to hide even though it should, and the result just seems exploitative, and for the audience, downright unpleasant. But if the film does excel in some departments, it's in the acting: Mariel Hemingway rises above the script's lazy decision of never showing why Dorothy cares so much about the schlub, and with limited subtle stares and soft voice makes us understand that perhaps despite the uneasiness Paul provokes on her, there's an understanding and sympathetic feelings that make her try to handle the situation as long as humanly possible. On the other hand, and with an entirely different style of acting, there's Eric Roberts, who despite the screenplay's attempts to show the guy's situation in a sympathetic manner, never gives in into clichés and just shows Paul Snider's inner demons with such a pathos and in such a convincing way that he achieves a coldly truthful, honest, yet effortlessly transparent portrayal of this pathetic, sleazy man. All in all, a rushed, lazy and unpleasant project about a story that should have never been told, but that works as an acting showcase for both its stars just perfectly, they're the reason to at least give the film a try. Rating: C

I saw Star 80 back in the mid 80's on television. They edited a lot but it still remained potent then. I bought the movie in the 90's at local retail store. I must have watched it a dozen times. I was even more memorized by the character of Paul played by Eric. I liked how it was told from Fosse's view point about how Paul might have felt. I can see how those in the upper crowd didn't like him. His was mean, immature and just plain weird. Paul didn't really love Dorothy. He loved himself. The tragic part of this is that Dorothy loved Paul enough to be sympathy for his failures. He uses her heart only to kill her. What I like most about the film is that it shows the darker side of relationships. Anyone who is dating a Paul like character needs to see the film. It just might save their life!

Mariel Hemingway stars in Bob Fosse's "Star 80", a film based in part on the Pulitzer Prize winning article "Death of a Playmate", and portrays the events that led to the 1980 murder of Dorothy Stratten. Even though Hemingway gets top billing and the film's title refers to her character, the main story falls fully on Eric Robert's shoulders, as the charismatic loose canon that "discovers" her.Roberts brings a gravitas to the smarmy, manipulative, and ultimately violent Paul Snider. His performance is the most engaging part of the film, and unfortunately leaves the viewer wondering whether the movie is little more than a means to show the killer as a three-dimensional individual, thereby making him the only fully formed character in the piece.Hemingway plays Stratten as a one-note naive, easily victimized young woman. It's a decent performance, but she has so few expressions and lacks any real presence that it's a wonder anyone would be so enamored with the woman she plays, and at points her performance is so familiar it feels as if she's back on the set of "Manhattan", the film she was in a few years earlier.The most misguided performance, though, is Cliff Robertson's Hugh Hefner, who brings little more than a pipe and a bathrobe to the proceedings. It would be unreasonable to assume an actor would mimic everything about a real person, but his take on Hefner was so wrong that supposedly "Hef" himself sued after this film's release."Star 80" is certainly not the fluff of the quickly tossed together made for TV movie with Jamie Lee Curtis as Stratten, but for something that obviously had something to say about celebrity and those that struggle to gain it, it hit far short of it's mark.