Prior to watching the Aaliyah biopic, Aaliyah: The Princess of R&B, I was anxiously anticipating its debut. I am a huge Aaliyah fan, from One in a Million to Rock the Boat, you can bet I can sing almost every line. Although when she passed away I was the meager age of four, I grew up listening to her music and admiring her beautiful spirit through documentaries and recorded performances. With all of that being said, a person could most definitely say when I turned on the channel to Lifetime I had big expectations for this biopic.

Those expectations were let down faster than the Drop Zone at Kings Dominion.

The disappointment can partially be blamed on myself for not doing some basic research. There were a few things that dramatically affected the outcome of the film, like the fact that Aaliyah’s family never gave song rights to the producers. They felt like the movie would be too low budget for her legacy, so the producers were forced to have the woman playing the star, Alexandra Shipp, sing the songs herself. This was absolutely tragic. Shipp has a pretty voice, I will give her that, but her sound is more fit for Disney. There was even one scene in the biopic where I genuinely thought I changed the channel to High School Musical because of the lighting and Shipp’s vocals. Another big problem with the film would be that virtually none of the characters looked remotely similar to the people the were portraying. For some examples, Chattrisse Dolabaille and Izaak Smith played Missy Elliott and Timberland, Aaliyah’s producers and Cle Bennett played the star’s alleged ex-husband, R Kelly. I will just leave the following here:

I don’t know, maybe it’s just me, but c’mon Lifetime and producers- you all really couldn’t have found characters with more of a resemblance? The woman playing Missy didn’t even have her signature finger waves. And since when did R. Kelly become dark skinned?

Finally, let’s discuss who the executive producer of the film was. The infamous Wendy Williams (“how YOU do doin’?”). She didn’t even know Aaliyah, and based on a tweet she made during the premiere of this despicable biopic, Williams doesn’t know her music as well.

“‘Let Me Know’ is my favorite Aaliyah song! What’s yours? #AaliyahMovie”

The song is actually called At Your Best, and dozens of people responded to give her a piece of their mind and correct her.

There was so much more wrong with the film, but I don’t want to spoil scenes for the few who actually do want to watch it after seeing it be attacked on social media over the past couple of weeks. I will say that the film was disrespectful and inaccurate in a lot of the parts. I hope Lifetime learns from this and Wendy Williams reevaluates working with movies. 2 out of 10 stars.