Pokeno4Money said:

It makes Under the Cherry Moon look like Casablanca.

Billed as a sort of sequel to Purple Rain, it was anything but .... I was so dissappointed after taking my girlfriend to see it in the theater.

I took 7 people. haha

TrivialPursuit said:

homesquid said:

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was a crime against all that is good and just...or at least all that is coherent. All hyperbole beside it is the single worst movie theater experience of my life. It depressed me for a good 24 hours lol.

I feel like you're holding back.

MMJas said:

It's so bad it's good.

Yes, and for me, it helps that I don't view it as a real movie anyway. It's more of an extended music video, or vanity project..

For a along while after the DVD came out, I was watching this at least weekly

I honestly don't remember it being as bad as you all are saying. Unfortunately I don't have a copy so, I have to wait.

i like all prince's films. to me, they have a bollywood feel. i always wished he'd do a bollywood project of his opwn. write another movie and film it there or something.

OldFriends4Sale said:

Militant said:

I think it wasn't that long ago that we had this discussion, but another thing is that Graffiti Bridge is clearly two different movies jammed into one.

Movie 1 : Prince and Aura, the feather and it's meaning, etc

Movie 2 : Purple Rain 2 with The Kid VS The Time

Movie 1 is the movie Prince wanted to make and evolved from earlier concepts like The Dawn.

Movie 2 is the movie Prince was forced to make in order to get funding, and this seems to have happened at the last minute.

Hell, Prince didn't even have a keyboard player in the movie, they used Philip C who was the hairdresser!!! If the movie had *always* been a battle of the bands between The Kid's band and The Time, a la Purple Rain, then it seems pretty obvious that Prince would have given this band a name, explored their personalities (TC Ellis being desperate to rap doesn't count), given them all at least one line or some backstory, etc, etc.

Bringing in The Time and making it a follow up to Purple Rain revolving around a battle between two bands clearly is something that was all jammed in at the last minute.

Great take on this.

Considering how much we all love Prince, Grafitti Bridge must be really really that bad for so many of us to find this film to be a total unwatchable trainwreck. I saw it in the theater the day it was released and never watched it again and have no plans to change that. I will watch UTCM again because it has a certain charm but not the cinematic monstrosity that is GB.

FunkiestOne said:

Considering how much we all love Prince, Grafitti Bridge must be really really that bad for so many of us to find this film to be a total unwatchable trainwreck. I saw it in the theater the day it was released and never watched it again and have no plans to change that. I will watch UTCM again because it has a certain charm but not the cinematic monstrosity that is GB.

^^^This. Although, I do own it on disc.

i would like to see the 2 1/2 hr version and compare. its unfair to be so harsh for such a rush job of an edit

it sucked moose cock!

luvsexy4all said:

Despite having the original The Time line-up, it ain' no Purple Rain, but more watchable that Under The Cherry Moon

Goddess4Real said:

Despite having the original The Time line-up, it ain' no Purple Rain, but more watchable that Under The Cherry Moon

Really? I found GB nearly unwatchable. UTCM I found very funny and cute. Prince seems so carefree and expressive with his body language. The banter between him and Jerome borders on a gay relationship. I can't say anything good about GB except that Ingrid Chavez is a good looking woman with wonderful creamy skin.

[Edited 5/19/16 22:12pm]

Militant said:

missfee said:

computerblue77 said:

Goddess4Real said:

Despite having the original The Time line-up, it ain' no Purple Rain, but more watchable that Under The Cherry Moon

Really? I found GB nearly unwatchable. UTCM I found very funny and cute. Prince seems so carefree and expressive with his body language. The banter between him and Jerome borders on a gay relationship. I can't say anything good about GB except that Ingrid Chavez is a good looking woman with wonderful creamy skin.

[Edited 5/19/16 22:12pm]

Well Ingrid Chavez was a better actress than Kristin Scott Thomas (who was the most annoying character in UTCM) in the 80s Every time she appered on the sceen I was like Kristin has improved since then thank goodness I would have liked UTCM alot more if she wasn't in it

[Edited 5/19/16 22:39pm]

[Edited 5/19/16 22:40pm]

[Edited 5/19/16 22:40pm]

Goddess4Real said:

computerblue77 said:

Really? I found GB nearly unwatchable. UTCM I found very funny and cute. Prince seems so carefree and expressive with his body language. The banter between him and Jerome borders on a gay relationship. I can't say anything good about GB except that Ingrid Chavez is a good looking woman with wonderful creamy skin.

[Edited 5/19/16 22:12pm]

Well Ingrid Chavez was a better actress than Kristin Scott Thomas (who was the most annoying character in UTCM) in the 80s :tv:Every time she appered on the sceen I was like Kristin has improved since then thank goodness

Kristin Scott Thomas is a classicly trained acctress, if she annoyed you she did her job, that was her role in UTCM.

computerblue77 said:

Goddess4Real said:

Well Ingrid Chavez was a better actress than Kristin Scott Thomas (who was the most annoying character in UTCM) in the 80s :tv:Every time she appered on the sceen I was like Kristin has improved since then thank goodness

Kristin Scott Thomas is a classicly trained acctress, if she annoyed you she did her job, that was her role in UTCM.

Yes she is a classicly trained actress and IMO should have one an Oscar for The English Patient 1996, but lets be honest here, she was beyond annoying to me in UTCM, which goes to prove u can have all the talent in the world, but some roles even the early ones are just......no She should have won a Razzie Award. Even she hated it "Kristin Scott Thomas has since been disdainful of the film. In an interview in 2005, she said that "When I left drama school...I was more afraid of not working at all than of the actual material I was being offered. And if you look at my very first film, you'll understand exactly what I mean." I think she is a great actress, but miscast in UTCH.

[Edited 5/19/16 22:57pm]

[Edited 5/19/16 23:00pm]

[Edited 5/19/16 23:23pm]

RiotPaisley said:

Spanky said:

Militant said:

Graffiti Bridge could have been great, but IMO most of the faults come down to bad sequencing and editing.

Have you seen the outtakes? The "Can't Stop This Feeling I Got" video which would have started the movie is absolutely brilliant and could have set a different tone to the movie. Bring that back, trim the fat, cut out Tevin whose part wasn't needed, and sequence the story a bit better and you have a way better film. I enjoy the film as it is and I think a lot of the criticism it gets is exaggerated.

There's outtakes?

Militant said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

"a different kind of movie. It's not violent. Nobody gets laid." -Prince

I love that Monte is the one that gets to come at Prince, haha. That's too funny.

lol, noticed that too. A better result than Jellybean taking him on (and being so mean) in the deleted scenes in the Purple Rain trailer. MM is in his weight class at least.

It wasn't just a bad movie, it was terrible and very depressing to watch.

I was used to explaining Prince was excentric but on that occasion, I could no longer defend him from accusations of overindulgence. I couldn't even say "yes, it's a very silly movie, but the performance scenes are great" -- they were not. It didn't help that it all ended with one of his worst songs.

Thank U 4 doing this interview. It shed a lot of light on that period and what was actually happening.

I would've talked to him even longer if I could've - Jimmy Jam was extremely generous with his time, especially since his main purpose was promoting the then-new 'Condensate' album. Plus he was very patient, since I had almost completely lost my voice - I still have the recorded audio and it's painful to listen to myself croaking out questions...

But back to defending 'Graffiti Bridge,' I just feel like after accepting the general sense of incompetency that permeates the filmmaking - I can sit back and enjoy the musical sequences, laugh at the humor, and just generally respect the fact that Prince tried something (even if he bit off more than he could chew, wearing too many hats).

I'm kind of surprised that many commenters on this thread seem to feel like they'd be happier if the film didn't exist. Subpar as it is, I'm still tickled by the fact that we have a feature film with Prince, the original Time lineup, Mavis Staples, and George Clinton all featured (George could've at least had a line of dialogue though!). I know I'll continue to pop in the DVD every once in a while, no doubt.

[Edited 5/20/16 7:24am]