The Bobby DeBarge Story

Bobby my love, you deserve so much better than this! I pray you get it one day. This was not it. I'm all for our people getting work, God bless the actors. The story should have least been a mini series. And don't even get me started on those wigs, the fake looking wigs which I noticed a lot of people commented on, took away from the realness of the story. It was like people were playing dress-up and having an awful costume party and they didn't even tell not even 25% of what Bobby went through and shared only 10% of what his talent was.... and so many things in the movie was actually proven false so that also was a disappointment. For those who knew Bobby personally and his struggles, a lot of scenes more disappointing because it wasn't what happened, so we're not even looking at a real biography here, just something somebody threw together. And again Bobby DeBarge deserved better then this.

If you're from that era (70s-80s) I believe you'll like the movie more for your memories of the DeBarge's (Bobby, Switch, El,...) will carry you through. I watched the entire movie in almost one sitting, which means it kept my interest. And yes some of the actors weren't Oscar Worthy:) and though the clothing, hair, and vehicles too were accurate those wigs looked like OUR actual hair back then AFTER you awoke after an allnight bender:) And I must have forgotten James (DeBarge) went full BarKays with his hair back then:)

The poster(s) that suggested this should've been done similar to NE (Temptations too) is right on the $$s. But I bet they couldn't because it'd priced it out of production (music rights alone:)) but clearly that's why this movie came up short.

And another reason they may not have ventured into more time/detail, they'd had problems keeping it PG13. The trials and tribulations of Bobby and his family are downright biblical and not in a good way. The books and TV bios cover it in all its horrid detail, ironically very entertaining, just not pleasant.

Summary, IF you're of that time and/or a fan of Switch, DeBarge,..worth checking out Bobby's Story.

This movie was pretty good. I think this movie should have included more information about Bobby DeBarge BEFORE 1980. There was way too much time spent on the group 'DeBarge' and not enough time spent on the group 'Switch' with Bobby as lead singer. Bobby's drug use played an important part in the downfall of Switch. In terms of hair, the wigs could have been better. Roshon Fegan's portrayal of Bobby DeBarge was pretty good, so I wasn't bothered much by the bad wigs. I don't understand how some could give this movie a rating of 1/10 stars. For those who've not seen the movie, please take the time to watch it. If you're not too distracted by the wigs worn, I'm sure you'll think 'The Bobby DeBarge Story' is a pretty good movie.

This telling of the story of Bobby DeBarge was literally all over the place. Even when I hit rewind on a couple of scenes I was left saying, "wait, did I miss...". The sequencing was absolutely awful. If you didn't know the story of Bobby Debarge you still wouldn't clearly understand based off of this movie. In their defense, I think they tried to squeeze too much information into the tiny time slot that then got further reduced by numerous commercials. I would like to see it retold in the same way the New Edition story was told over a series of days. This movie did not provide a clear overall picture of the family. Why not do a DeBarge story in its entirety; a mini-series?

I'm going to skip over whoever is responsible for the wigs in this movie because that would be an entire paragraph on its own.

The Positive: I am glad that some Black actors had the opportunity to work

The Negative: (1) hideous wigs (they have a life of their own); (2) a disjointed story with more holes than a piece of swiss cheese; (3) Poor editing...the story was all over the place (4) Poor script -- I don't think the actors had much of a story to work with.

I was a huge Switch fan in the 1970s. After I watched the movie, I was left asking "What did I just watch"? May Mr. DeBarge rest in peace, because he didn't seem to have any during his life.