Carmen: A Hip Hopera (2001) (TV)

Director:

Robert Townsend

Writer:

Michael Elliot (written by)

Release Date:

8 May 2001 (USA)

Genre:

Musical | Drama

Plot:

Carmen, a seduceful aspiring actress seems to lead trouble everywhere she goes. But when a hard-nosed cop...

Plot Keywords:

Murder | Cop In Prison | Young Boy | Infidelity | Remake Of Remake

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Beyoncé Knowles	...	Carmen
Mekhi Phifer	...	Sergeant Derrick Hill
Mos Def	...	Frank Miller
Rah Digga	...	Rasheeda
Joy Bryant	...	Nikki
Wyclef Jean	...	Fortune Teller
Da Brat	...	Narrator
Jermaine Dupri	...	Pockets
Bow Wow	...	Jalil
Casey Lee	...	Blaze
Reagan Gomez-Preston	...	Caela
Sam Sarpong	...	Nathaniel
Troy Winbush	...	Porter
Fred Williamson
Maurice G. Smith	...	Big Mo'

Also Known As:

Carmen Brown (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for violence, sensuality, and drug content.

Runtime:

88 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

USA:PG-13

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Carmen Productions

Quotes:

Blaze: Hello, I'm Blaze. But my friends call me Case...
[Carmen cuts him off]
Carmen: I know who you are. I'm Carmen.
Blaze: Nice to meet you.
Carmen: Nice to meet you.
Blaze: So what's a fine lady like you doing in Philly? Small town masquerading as a big city.
Carmen: I won't be here for long. See I have dreams... plans.
Blaze: I wanna hear about 'em.
Carmen: [sucks teeth] Pssh. No, you don't.
Blaze: No, really. I'm interested.
[...]

The music was pretty good, but the movie wasn't

After watching this movie on MTV I came away with one feeling, disappointment. The music is the movie was pretty good, but was lacking a bit in production value. Robert Townsend's direction of the spoken dramatic scenes were very well done, but he tried to be too flashy during the musical numbers. The music should be an extension of the action we see on screen, and should not be cut off from everything else. The music sequences were poorly visualized and at an hour & 20 minutes the movie was just too short. The acting was good, and the story was updated very well. As far as cautionary tales go, this movie was far from the best I've seen, but it was also far form the worst. I give it a 5 out of 10.