Olivia Newton-John: Hopelessly Devoted to You

Our beautiful Olivia just passed as I finally watched this. Despite being a life long fan of hers and really interested in this story, I knew Delta would be difficult to watch and... she was.

The actress who plays young Olivia is spot on and the ensemble cast are overall very good but Delta overacts (as she tends to do)

That said, reflecting on Olivia's life today has been a gift so I'm glad we have this for that reason so other favs may enjoy it for that reason alone.

This TV special features Delta Goodrem in the title role. I confess I was not familiar with her until I watched this show. She is a beautiful, talented actress/singer, but she is not Olivia Newton-John, so the decision to record Ms. Goodrem's versions of ON-J's hits for this special left me wanting. I must admit there were moments when her voice did invoke the tones of Olivia's instrument, but at other times I missed the vulnerable and emotional nature of that original voice.

It's an ambitious undertaking to cover Olivia's less-than-storybook life in two hours, so this biopic hit the highlights of her life rather quickly. Since her life is well-documented, there are no surprises and no untold story. But the narrative is serviceable, with only a couple of glaring omissions.

Those unfamiliar with Olivia's career and life will probably find this story disjointed. Those who witnessed her successes and her trials via the media might wish for revelations not found in this special.

I feel like a lot of people are so quick to criticize works of are so easily. This is a good bio pic of Olivia. First off the sing was great which is a huge accomplishment for a TV bio pic. And the actress who played Olivia did awesome. You can't really set Hollywood Blockbuster standards for a TV movie. All in all it's a good movie to watch if love Olivia and want to see/learn her story. After all this is a movie she approved.

They literally crammed everything they possibly could into this biopic. They just jump from moment to moment in her career, each moments gets all of 2 minutes before they jump to the next one, and you get no real sense of who she is, how she became show she is, how all of this affected her. I would have much rather had a Netflix 10 episode series where you could really dig deep into Olivia. Really disappointing. She deserves so much better.

OK so this wasn't the best bio movie. They crammed 50 years into 2 hours so there is little detail or depth therefor, if you didn't really grow up in that time period, knowing who Olivia Newton-John was, this movie won't mean much or be very entertaining... you might even get a bit lost. For fans or people from that generation, we know some of the actors/people she dated, the movies, songs, and some of the events so we can fill in the blanks. All the acting was pretty mediocre. I know other reviewers especially trashed actress Delta Goodrem but I thought her acting and singing were descent enough, and she is an Australian singer and actress so she had the authentic accent and a good voice, even though she's no Olivia Newton-John. So, not the best but might be entertaining enough for a fan or a dull afternoon, In My Humble Opinion. 5.5 stars. Feb 2019.