Roxanne Roxanne

Whether it was the acting or direction needing vast improvement, the portrayal by Chante Adams of Roxanne Shante was average at best, and sometimes cringe enducing. And although the factual story was interesting to absorb, as a fan of Roxanne Shante's music, I would have liked to have seen it stretch into the Go on Girl and Live On Stage era.

Additionally, the rap wars with BDP and the coming together of the Juice Crew would have bolstered the story with factual content important and interesting to Hip Hop fans across the world, especially relative to Roxanne Shante. I understand the focus here was on the mistreatment and early life, but the film lost an opportunity to be much bigger by leaving out these explorations.

I gave this movie a 8/10. I thought the acting was great and the actual quality of the movie (sound, picture, etc) was phenomenal. I don't know what the budget was but I wish more movies looked as good as this. Chanté Adams did an incredible job. She was a natural and very believable.

I think it was a little hard to follow if you're not from that era because I don't know all of the players. I'm an 80s baby and I still don't know everyone who was being portrayed in the movie. I think they should've paused the film with a little caption under each main character so the audience can get a better understanding of who is who.

Also, I would've liked the film to illustrate how Roxanne Shanté affected the billboards and media etc. This was an inside looking out movie but the outside looking in perspective would've been nice to add, just a tad. Other than that, solid film!

The only thing that redeems this messy film is the superb acting specially from the lead actress Chanté Adams; she made me care about her character and root for her character, although neither the character's background or the struggles that the character went through have been represented well. Also, Mahershala Ali gave an awesome and powerful performance, he steals every scene he's in in this film.

Don't get me wrong it's a bad film but the great acting is what kept me riveted while watching it.

At the first act, the film tries to show me Roxanne Shanté's backstory which should be important but what I got instead are details about minor characters that don't have anything to do with the story but even that it was hard to figure out who's who. Also, there are a lot of in-your-face messages about racism.

The character of Roxanne Shanté's mother is annoyingly stereotyped and the film gave her dramatic scenes which are so corny. The dialogue is so faked and stilted that it ruined some great acted scenes.

There are many important turning points in the plot that are so rushed.

(5/10)

After watching this movie i cant say that I was left speechless but have to admit that there was definitely some decent acting and a familiar story told from a fresh and unique perspective. Nia Long who was playing the mother of Chante nailed her roll, her acting was really spot on. One could easily see how Mahershala Ali managed to score himself a golden statue. His character was the complete opposite of the one he played in Moonlight where he was the criminal with a golden heart. Here we had a troubled drug dealer who couldn't rise above his dark environment, his huge gangster ego and his selfish needs. And finally Chante gave us a really honest and fresh performance that kept me and my girlfriend watching until the end of the movie. I rate it 7 out of 10 only because i felt that the movie lacked a bit of depth.

All in all i would recommend this movie if you are into biopics.

As a hip hop head this truly disappointed me. Of course I am aware of the history Roxanne Shante has played. For those who did not know now know, but I felt the story was very weak. The dialogue doesn't grab you by the balls. There is a huge lack of, something. It doesn't feel raw. It doesn't take you back to the 80s, more like a low budget movie. The same feeling I got from The Get Down, although they had a 30 million dollar budget. I also feel that her story alone is not enough to represent Hip Hop alone. There were many other female MCs at that time who started way before Shante who never received the same credit they deserve. If this story is about abuse, a young girl going up in the projects and by ''accident'' becoming a full-time rapper, then overall it could have been told better.