Memorergi good film but with many flaws

Beystiman It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

Dirtylogy It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

Freeman This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

ivyfield I've just watched this movie again - for about the 4/5th time and now understand Richard Carpenter's comments. The project could have been so much better. Historically incorrect (using the Made in America sleeve in the early stage of their career footage and the exclusion of Karen's solo project)which, I suppose is expected when you have to cram an entire life into 120 minutes. Yes, Cynthia Gibb is at time uncannily like Karen but boy, Ms Gibb really should have been given some serious lip-syncing lessons and whoever was in charge of the wigs should have taken up a different career! The guy who played Richard did a decent enough job, but you can't help feeling that this really could have/should have been a much better movie. I guess the budget was low and thank God we got the original Karen vocals - I shudder to think how it could have been without her vocals!This is a story worth telling properly. Like 'Ray' (Ray Charles biopic) with a big budget and maybe some extra soundtrack from Richard. What's he doing these days? The soundtrack alone would sell millions. No-one loves The Carpenters more than me. I have everything they've ever released on CD (and vinyl!) and regularly visit YouTube to check if any more gems have been uploaded that I haven't seen before. Like Nat King Cole, Karen's voice is beyond any words of praise. Thank God for all the recordings that will be around long, long after we've all gone. Steve Weaver, UK 9 Oct 2013.

lexs_luv_bunny On watching this film, I was amazed at how media perception can mould a persons opinion of a celebrity. Karen Carpenter was a carefree, but very unconfident young lady, whose wonderful voice helped her and her brother Richard to soar the charts with wonderful songs. As with all celebrities of today, they were often criticised about their music as well as their looks, styles, etc. THis had a huge effect on Karen who raged a battle against her eating and drastically lost weight, which eventually caused her death. This heart felt film was not initially something which I would have thought of watching. But on starting to view it, then I was hooked. In the same way that the Tina Turner story does, then this film enlightens you and allows you to see into the young performers life. The acting was superb and even after nearly 20 years after it was made, then the directional and the dialogue are still entertaining.I would recommend this to anyone who hasn't yet watched it. It is amazingly accurate and emotionally charged.

haridam0 There have been a lot of opinions expressed as to the crux of Karen's problems. Certainly the eating disorder was a result and not a cause of the talented singer's anxiety.The "controlling mother," need for romantic love, and career stresses all undoubtedly played a part. However, my feeling is that the act of moving Karen from her drums to the center stage mike was the real trigger.The young musician felt comfortable and natural behind the drums. It was where she really belonged, despite professional dictates. A drummer's always a drummer at heart, sitting behind those traps and wielding those sticks. Her singing emanated from and was intertwined with the drumming, and not an isolated entity.The move to center stage and abandoning her trap set was the beginning of Karen's downfall. The move robbed her of her base, grounding and natural habitat. It threw off her balance, and began her downward spiral to a rash of personal problems.Seems like a small thing, yet my feeling is that had Karen remained behind those drums singing her songs, she might still be with us today.The TV movie includes lots of great Carpenter hits, and includes the contribution of her protégé brother, Richard, who currently (in 2006) is alive and doing well in California.

MarieGabrielle I am very diplomatic in my reviews, and as an academic writer, try to give creative license to TV writers trying to explicate a true story. This story, about Karen Carpenter, could have helped so many, yet due to the directing and editing, does not.The story, in this case, is not fully addressed, unless one reads psychological journals. While Cynthia Gibb portrays a realistic Karen, it is sad that so much has been edited...Louise Fletcher portrays her mother, and does an excellent job, with limited material and dialogue. In this case, I give the actors credit for surviving this project.Why is the audience not permitted to see causation factors?....American audiences are quite savvy, and if they have cable, usually educated.I sincerely feel that I could have written a better story, would not have edited out the truth, and allowed the actors to project the reality.Richard Carpenter, as director, has seriously underestimated and insulted American audiences. Karen's story is important, and it is sad we will never hear it.