The First Clip from the Amy Winehouse Biopic 'Back to Black' Is Excruciating

By Dustin Rowles | Film | March 29, 2024 |

By Dustin Rowles | Film | March 29, 2024 |

I have been fairly surprised with the consistent box-office success of the musical biopic genre. I don’t know that the quality of the film even matters that much. Maybe audiences just want to see and hear versions of their favorite musicians onscreen. That explains the success of Bohemian Rhapsody. Granted, I liked Elvis and Rocketman and Straight Outta Compton, but most of the films are formula-driven nostalgia vehicles (see One Love).

One thing that most at least had going for them was a lead who could replicate their subject with at least some degree of success — Ice Cube’s kid was the perfect Ice Cube, and Austin Butler was so successful at playing Elvis that he apparently couldn’t escape his character until Dune 2. But the thing about Amy Winehouse is that she’s not replicable. That deep, hoarse, soulful voice is one of the most distinctive in all of music. You can’t duplicate that.

I like Marisa Abela. She’s great in Industry. She is not Amy Winehouse. And if Studio Canal thought that releasing this clip featuring Abela’s attempt to sing like Winehouse would be a good selling point, they’re very wrong. They should fire their entire marketing department. This is hurtful. It feels like the corporate, AI-generated Disney version of Amy Winehouse’s voice. Watching it gives me second-hand embarrassment.

Back to Black hits cinemas on April 12th. I can’t imagine it will do well.