If you grew up in a household where artists of R&B music connect to you like extended family members, then learning about the premiere of "The Bobby DeBarge Story" brought anticipation that compares to preparation and celebration of a best friend's birthday party. Music is a universal language, and no one can deny good music that would cause you to add a specific song to your daily or weekend playlist or even max out the volume through your Bluetooth connection in your car while the song plays on repeat. The evening begins with prepping the bowls of buttery popcorn and bubbly mixes of ginger ale-fruit juice drinks, sitting down with your siblings to reminisce on childhood memories, and getting excited to sing-a-long to the favorites while teasing your children, "You don't know about this." All is awash to the entire experience to be disappointed by the second scene.
Biopics have become a way for filmmakers to share and inform the masses of the journey of an impactful person's joys, trials, failures, and triumphs. With increasing techniques that combine technology with green and blue screens, casting, and a makeup department that strategically looks to intricate details of hair and wardrobe, all have made it much easier to create timepieces that carry the viewers through memorable experiences. With many more skilled and experienced black performers and screenwriters eager to use their profits from their successful career to invest and produce films that represent the black population, the interest and shortage of funds to take on a production is no longer an issue. Which brings us to question the seemingly lack of quality that "The Bobby DeBarge Story" presents.
Robert "Bobby" Louis DeBarge, Jr. is the second oldest of 10. The world was introduced to him with his younger brother, Thomas "Tommy", when they were apart of the group Switch. Bobby's lead on "I Call Your Name" caused those to move towards the dance floor and slow dance with their crush. Lovers of the tune can beat Shazam just from hearing the first five notes at the start of the song itself. Listening to Bobby's break down at the beginning of the song - "I used to think about immature things. You know like, do you love me, do you want me..." puts every girl as the muse he's pouring his heart out to. Then Bobby's mellow, smooth falsetto "I'm not worried 'bout a doggone thing, I'll take anything you bring although I love the sunshine, I still accept the rain..." sways the entire body to the grove of the song until it becomes impossible to not sing along at the end, "Da da di la da di da la la la la".
Just the power of DeBarge's music, whether it was songs that Bobby and Tommy performed with Switch, "I Call Your Name", "They'll Never Be"; songs by his sister and brother's group (Bunny, Randy, Mark, El, and James) DeBarge sang, "I Like It", "All This Love", "Time Will Reveal"; or solo albums from some of them will cause anyone to start rocking and build up those happy hormones. Because of the sizeable DeBarge following, most people were already aware of the drug abuse and other trials that the DeBarge family endured. It did not take much publicity to push the tv premiere on TVOne that first aired June 29, 2019. But with an original production from parent company Urban One whose reported operating income of approximately $12.1 million for the three months that ended December 31, 2019, (Urban One, 2020), there was definitely enough income to use for the making of the film. But there wasn't any evidence of that.
The film gives the impression as if the budget was only spent on the cast's salary. And when I say cast, that doesn't include hair and makeup. For those that remember Bobby, or any of the DeBarges, their hair was always styled to perfection. From the 70's rocking with the pride of Afros, the 80's and the infamous Jheri curls, through the 90's and the high-top fades, the DeBarge family could never be found with a hair out-of-place. During times where elementary and middle school-aged girls provide hair tutorials on YouTube, surely there was someone to get some direction on how to style Roshon Fegan to look more like Bobby DeBarge instead of the wig a grandmother found in the bottom of the box from the back of her attic and lent to the makeup and hair department. My family would have to pause the movie periodically to laugh and talk about how bad the hair was, go to Google, compare, and laugh even more. Which hairstylist would be proud to claim this work as a credit? Still waiting on responses.
The characters were not fully developed, as most scenes were rushed. Fegan was never given an opportunity to connect with anyone, as it seems as if the most important aspect was for lines to be recited. If it weren't for the flashbacks, the audience would be confused as to the direction of the story. While a few scenes depicted the communities, buildings, and landmarks reflective of the times, the lack of funding is once again apparent with the "I Call Your Name" performance at Soul Train. However, no traces of this prominent landmark was evident. BET's first season of American Soul was being filmed at the same time. Perhaps clearance was an issue to use the name, but if so, why film this scene at a wide-angle and not focus on quality lighting and staging to mimic the true setting of Soul Train. And not to mention the bad wigs in this scene, too.
I don't say that a film is not worth watching. If someone is a fan-favorite of an actor, genre, time in history, or in this case, a musical group, nothing will stop that person from viewing it. But in this time in history where more black filmmakers are trained, more black actors are skilled, more screenplays are produced, and more projects are financed, there is no room for anything less than quality. And while we love Bobby and the rest of the DeBarge family, this depiction was unfortunately not ready to call our names.
Biopics have become a way for filmmakers to share and inform the masses of the journey of an impactful person's joys, trials, failures, and triumphs. With increasing techniques that combine technology with green and blue screens, casting, and a makeup department that strategically looks to intricate details of hair and wardrobe, all have made it much easier to create timepieces that carry the viewers through memorable experiences. With many more skilled and experienced black performers and screenwriters eager to use their profits from their successful career to invest and produce films that represent the black population, the interest and shortage of funds to take on a production is no longer an issue. Which brings us to question the seemingly lack of quality that "The Bobby DeBarge Story" presents.
Robert "Bobby" Louis DeBarge, Jr. is the second oldest of 10. The world was introduced to him with his younger brother, Thomas "Tommy", when they were apart of the group Switch. Bobby's lead on "I Call Your Name" caused those to move towards the dance floor and slow dance with their crush. Lovers of the tune can beat Shazam just from hearing the first five notes at the start of the song itself. Listening to Bobby's break down at the beginning of the song - "I used to think about immature things. You know like, do you love me, do you want me..." puts every girl as the muse he's pouring his heart out to. Then Bobby's mellow, smooth falsetto "I'm not worried 'bout a doggone thing, I'll take anything you bring although I love the sunshine, I still accept the rain..." sways the entire body to the grove of the song until it becomes impossible to not sing along at the end, "Da da di la da di da la la la la".
Just the power of DeBarge's music, whether it was songs that Bobby and Tommy performed with Switch, "I Call Your Name", "They'll Never Be"; songs by his sister and brother's group (Bunny, Randy, Mark, El, and James) DeBarge sang, "I Like It", "All This Love", "Time Will Reveal"; or solo albums from some of them will cause anyone to start rocking and build up those happy hormones. Because of the sizeable DeBarge following, most people were already aware of the drug abuse and other trials that the DeBarge family endured. It did not take much publicity to push the tv premiere on TVOne that first aired June 29, 2019. But with an original production from parent company Urban One whose reported operating income of approximately $12.1 million for the three months that ended December 31, 2019, (Urban One, 2020), there was definitely enough income to use for the making of the film. But there wasn't any evidence of that.
The film gives the impression as if the budget was only spent on the cast's salary. And when I say cast, that doesn't include hair and makeup. For those that remember Bobby, or any of the DeBarges, their hair was always styled to perfection. From the 70's rocking with the pride of Afros, the 80's and the infamous Jheri curls, through the 90's and the high-top fades, the DeBarge family could never be found with a hair out-of-place. During times where elementary and middle school-aged girls provide hair tutorials on YouTube, surely there was someone to get some direction on how to style Roshon Fegan to look more like Bobby DeBarge instead of the wig a grandmother found in the bottom of the box from the back of her attic and lent to the makeup and hair department. My family would have to pause the movie periodically to laugh and talk about how bad the hair was, go to Google, compare, and laugh even more. Which hairstylist would be proud to claim this work as a credit? Still waiting on responses.
The characters were not fully developed, as most scenes were rushed. Fegan was never given an opportunity to connect with anyone, as it seems as if the most important aspect was for lines to be recited. If it weren't for the flashbacks, the audience would be confused as to the direction of the story. While a few scenes depicted the communities, buildings, and landmarks reflective of the times, the lack of funding is once again apparent with the "I Call Your Name" performance at Soul Train. However, no traces of this prominent landmark was evident. BET's first season of American Soul was being filmed at the same time. Perhaps clearance was an issue to use the name, but if so, why film this scene at a wide-angle and not focus on quality lighting and staging to mimic the true setting of Soul Train. And not to mention the bad wigs in this scene, too.
I don't say that a film is not worth watching. If someone is a fan-favorite of an actor, genre, time in history, or in this case, a musical group, nothing will stop that person from viewing it. But in this time in history where more black filmmakers are trained, more black actors are skilled, more screenplays are produced, and more projects are financed, there is no room for anything less than quality. And while we love Bobby and the rest of the DeBarge family, this depiction was unfortunately not ready to call our names.