New On Netflix: Purple Rain

We’d say that Time (pun intended; we’ll remind you why later on) has not been kind to Purple Rain, but it really wasn’t any good back in 1984, either, so why bother? This vanity project from Prince is a laughable, embarrassing train wreck, but at least it’s one with an Oscar-winning soundtrack (to which, by the way, time has been kind). This is misguided ’80s excess to the extreme, with Prince (taking all of this oh so seriously) playing The Kid, an angry youth who just wants to play his music and make sweet love to the gorgeous Apollonia (who plays a character named Apollonia, or maybe it’s the other way around). But who’s standing in the way of his true self-expression and happiness? The villainous Morris Day of Morris Day and the Time, of course! Okay, yeah, this movie’s nothing if not enjoyable (for all the wrong reasons), but don’t say we didn’t warn you — you might be better off digging up that old soundtrack cassette and satisfying your ’80s nostalgia fix that way.

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