I have little to say about this film out of fear of giving Sam Taylor-Johnson exactly what she wants – to profit off of the death of an iconic woman.
Not only is the portrayal of Amy Winehouse shamefully disgusting but in the entire 2 hours and 2 minutes it lacks any recognition towards her excellence and merely focuses on what many wrongfully associate her with – drugs and alcohol.
Amy was a person, a singer, a musician, a 7 time grammy award winner before she was anything Taylor-Johnson has portrayed her to be. She should not be remembered this way. And if you do consider yourself a fan of Amy I urge you to not watch this film and give it the time of day.
It is always terrible when a director and screenwriter very obviously don’t understand the subject of their film.
In Marisa Abela’s defence, she does her best to channel the powerhouse that was Amy Winehouse, but between the god awful directing and the criminal script there wasn’t much she could do to rise above a cheap Vegas-like impersonation of her. The casting decisions just weren’t where they needed to be.
The film is entertaining, but that almost makes it worse. It reduces Amy’s addiction and pain to the rejection of a single man, and even though that was definitely a factor I do not appreciate how whiny, unreasonable and incoherent they’ve made her look.
It puts her into the misogynistic box that’s often present in this sub-genre of cinema of ‘ugh, if only I hadn’t met that shitty guy’. Because that’s all women are right ? The products of the men around them. The before ‘the guy’, the with ‘the guy’, the after ‘the guy’, but never just them.
There is no real acknowledgment of the way Amy used her life for her music, or any idea that she had any agency at all. The screenplay does not just let the film down- it lets Amy down.
It is inconsiderate to Amy’s character and really took the rawness and emotion out of her life. This film furthers on the savage media portrayal of her and has minimised her legacy to ballet flats and a beehive hairstyle rather than the warm and inspiring individual she was.
I would somewhat understand if this was the work of a man but no, this is a woman degrading another woman for no reason at all other than to lessen them to a gross stereotype.
This was genuinely the most unbearable cinema experience of my life and I just can’t believe they have made someone so unique and special into such a disgraceful and lazy story.
For every good scene there were ten that felt insulting, and one can only hope they let Amy rest in peace once and for all.
What really stings is the writing. I know, I know this review is just turning into my mad ramblings but Amy’s story is one of the most tragic and captivating of all and yet Matt Greenhalgh and Sam Taylor-Johnson choose to portray the parts of ‘her life’ that are none of those things.
Everything about this production is disrespectful, the writers almost completely blow over the reality of her alcoholism, her songwriting, the conceiving of her albums, and her lust for a more simple and peaceful life.
They make her father and Blake out to be some sort of saviours in her life when in reality they incited her downfall far more than we will ever know.
The pacing makes no sense whatsoever and the ending just comes out of nowhere. Once again lazy and disrespectful.
Overall this film really broke my heart, I had very low expectations from when I saw the rumours of the film’s development right until the final trailer. Yet I naively still had a sliver of hope.
This should be a sign to never let Sam Taylor-Johnson direct EVER again, she is to film what Colleen Hoover is to books.
I could write more but I will not waste my time on the insult to cinema that is Taylor-Johnson.
Luci.News 
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