Glitter

The rise to fame of Billie Frank--the struggling songstress played by ear-piercing pop diva Mariah Carey in this witless showbiz fairytale--is so absurdly easy you almost can't help but hate her for it. A record deal, a sold-out concert at Madison Square Garden and a last-reel reunion with her long-lost mother are little more than formalities in this predictably cheesy, utterly hollow, rose-colored movie from director Vondie Curtis Hall (Gridlock'd), who occasionally shows signs that he's doing the best with the material he's been given. Unfortunately, nobody could overcome the enormous drag of Carey's flat acting and the disingenuous, disintegrating script that has her falling in love with a blond, homeboy-wannabe disc jockey (scruffy-handsome Max Beesley) who spouts the most laughable white-boy street lingo ever spoken with a straight face. Not recommended. (R. Blackwelder)