Mariah Carey has hit it off with this one. Mariah has got one of the best voices this world has ever heard, and this film shows all it can do. Any Mariah Carey fan will really enjoy this movie because Mariah Carey is in it, and the songs in the movie are great, takes you back to the old school funk times.

Despite the negative aura around this album and for those who don’t know, ‘Glitter’ is the soundtrack album to the film and the eighth studio album by the American singer – songwriter. The album was released in the US on 11^th September, 2001 by Virgin Records and is Carey's best work. A fresh blend of bubble-gum pop, hip-hop and 1980's beats, and a different feel to each song.

Released on 11^th September by Virgin Records America in 2001, the horrific day we all remember when America was being attacked, the album features a more upbeat sound and is more directive than her past efforts with Sony Music and Tommy Mottola (her ex-husband). Overall, the album is filled with too many songs that are unoriginal and that samples other songs from the past. However, Mariah brings the best of the 90s in Lead the Way and Never Too Far, to the disco era on tracks like Wanted You and 1982 cover the Indeep group (Indeep was a 1980s New York–based group), Last Night DJ Saved My Life. Other highlights of the album are Loverboy (Remix), Don't Stop (Funkin' 4 Jamaica).

In the film Carey plays Billie Frank, an aspiring singer who, along with her friends Louise (rapper Da Brat) and Roxanne (Tia Texada), is a club dancer. Timothy Walker (Terrence Howard) offers them a contract as backup singers/dancers to another singer. At the premiere of the song they record, Billie meets Julian "Dice" Black (Max Beesley) a nightclub DJ, who helps her in her solo career. In the process, Billie and Dice fall in love.

With its loosely biographical plot, ‘Glitter’ was Carey’s chance to tell her personal story from the fictional vantage point of Billie. And since Carey was known for her grandiose personality and bravado, the dramatic tone of the film certainly matched what we’d expect from her. 

The film also allowed Carey to flex her independence and her business prowess outside of ex-husband and former manager Tommy Mottola and Columbia Records, where Mottola was CEO. After years of her artistry often being controlled by people other than herself, Carey deserved the opportunity to expand her entertainment empire and take calculated risks while crafting a project that honored her own journey from a Huntington, New York, demo singer to a global pop star.

In the end that's what she got: she went on to sign a record deal with Virgin Records that was worth a reported $100 million, and landed a production and distribution deal with a major film studio. She coupled the feature film with a soundtrack she had full creative and production control over.

Every eye-popping frame of the movie is transferred onto disc with high quality, while the sound quality is sure to bring fans of Mariah notice her vocal range. They will enjoy getting to hear her songs with the added atmosphere the 5.1 mix provides, especially when backed with the solid subwoofer beat.

As Bonus Features we find two Mariah Carey music videos, and a trailer for the film.

While the film did fairly well, it was her album ‘Glitter’, that eventually went on to selling over 2 million copies.

Cast: Mariah Carey, Max Beesley, Terrence Dashon Howrd, Da Brat, Tia Texada, Eric Benet 

Director: Vondie Curtis-Hall 

Genre: Drama

Length: 104 minutes

Cinema: 23^rd November 2001

DVD: 6^th May 2002

Country: USA

Rating: ****

Reviewed by Verus Ferreira