The Brittany Murphy Story (Lifetime)

[Tara Ariano]

Lifetime didn't have to do it. But they did.

[GHScorpiosRule]

Lifetime didn't have to do it. But they did.

 

The one trailer I saw looks horrendous.

[emma675]

The trailer I saw during the Saved by the Bell special looked weird and confusing. They were kind of indicating that she was hunted or murdered? I thought she accidentally overdosed on pills and died in her bathroom?

[WendyCR72]

The trailer I saw during the Saved by the Bell special looked weird and confusing. They were kind of indicating that she was hunted or murdered? I thought she accidentally overdosed on pills and died in her bathroom?

 

From what I understand, while Brittany Murphy did die in her bathroom, etc., I guess there are still lingering questions since her husband died under similar odd circumstances just months apart or something.

[WendyCR72]

Oh, I didn't mention the parents throwing mud, but yeah. Also read the rumors about the mother and hubby, too. I THINK BM's dad has now even accused the mother of both deaths.

 

"Nuts" doesn't begin to cover this.

[emma675]

Holy cow, I had no idea of the back story! What a sad mess of a family.

[Primetimer]

Lifetime made a movie inspired by the life and death of Brittany Murphy; Tara Ariano, Sarah D. Bunting, and John Ramos watched it for you.

Read the story

[AltLivia]

I idolized Brittany Murphy as a preteen. I think she just seemed unpretentious to me. Growing up, I saw her films and even when she was not great (which was a fair amount of the time), I kind of enjoyed seeing her, anyway. I digress.

 

I heard rumors that this was filmed in sixteen days. Why the rush? Is it the anniversary of her death? The whole movie was just garbage, start to finish. That wig on Alicia was atrocious,  it's true. And the actress playing Brittany just didn't seem comfortable in the role. She was wooden when she had to play sad, or play shocked. And while I'm not going to harp on Amanda Fuller's weight, Murphy was positively gaunt at the time of her death. I always assumed her death was caused by complications due to an eating disorder/malnutrition, plus the pneumonia and drugs. . 

 

I really wonder about why Murphy was so attached to her mom, to the possible detriment of other facets of her life. I never knew that. And I'd really love to know why Brittany attached herself to Monjack, in reality. They were such a weird couple. I mean, she was probably never going to achieve epic stardom, but what made her think he was the one to help resurrect her career? 

 

Movie Monjack's accent was godawful. It was so up and down, tone-wise. I thought, "Are you even hearing yourself right now? Probably not, or the shame would have stopped you."

Edited September 7, 2014 by ScullyInApt42

[methodwriter85]

I also thought that Brittany's death had to do with malnourishment. The woman just did not look well. When she died, I didn't really feel that much shock.

 

 And FakeAlicia's wig? Jesus Christ.

Edited September 7, 2014 by methodwriter85

[aradia22]

I liked the trailer. Or rather, I liked the Kiesza cover of Haddaway. It was Haddaway by way of Lana del Ray but not as good as Haddaway or Lana. I swear when I started typing this it was a compliment. 

 

I heard rumors that this was filmed in sixteen days. Why the rush?

Lifetime generally doesn't seem to try very hard whether it's a reality show, TV show, or movie. Though I do like Devious Maids. I think they filmed Liz and Dick in a similarly short amount of time and I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of their productions are done quickly and on the cheap.

 

Anyway, I taped it so you'll hear my thoughts soon. 

[niklj]

Lifetime acquired the rights to this film, they didn't produce it: http://www.thewrap.com/brittany-murphys-dad-is-cyber-bullying-lifetimes-biopic-star-amanda-fuller/

 

This was absolutely HORRENDOUS. It was like an Asylum SyFy movie but for Lifetime. This was even worse than their worst recent TV movies--it made the Saved by the Bell movie look like Citizen Kane. I will say, though, the casting of the Ashton Kutcher was pretty decent.

 

Movie Monjack's accent was godawful. It was so up and down, tone-wise. I thought, "Are you even hearing yourself right now? Probably not, or the shame would have stopped you."

 

Hilarious. He was the worst part of Kirstie Alley's cancelled show.

[junemeatcleaver]

Wait, the movie put up a disclaimer that she didn't have any drugs in her system at her time of death? I thought the coroner - the real Los Angeles coroner, not the make-believe movie coroner - mentioned multiple drugs in her system as a contributing factor on top of the pneumonia.

 

 

 

The disclaimer said there were no *illegal* drugs in her system.  

 

The movie was horrible.  I don't know why Lifetime keeps on buying these boring, cheapo productions.

[answerphone]

A high school team of writers, actors and directors could easily have done a better job. The Lifetime movie was absolutely terrible.

[sunrisepink]

Lifetime usually does a good job of making unlikable people sympathetic (I am embarrassed to admit I watched the Anna Nicole Smith movie as well). But this was almost too much. Are we really to believe that she had 2 boyfriends her whole life, never partied or spent time with friends, and just hung out in her house with her husband and mother all the time? Maybe it's all true..but it seemed like it was almost a privately funded PSA for the clearing of her name.

[nem0]

Since I don't want to watch this (Lifetime biopics make me break out in hives, and I have places to be this week), can anyone confirm if they mentioned my 3rd favorite teen girl murder comedy, Drop Dead Gorgeous? I figured if they did, someone would have mentioned bad Kirsten Dunst, Kirstie Alley, or Denise Richards wigs, so I'm gonna guess...no.

[nenya]

I thought the guy who placed Ashton Kutcher did a surprisingly good job. If I didn't see him in the context of the movie, I could almost guess who he was trying to be. And the actress who played Brittany Murphy did hit her mannerisms every now and then pretty well.

But wow, this is just 2 terrible movies in a row (I also saw the Saved By the Bell one).

[aradia22]

OK, I did kind of enjoy the use of tweets at the beginning. I generally don't believe in putting personal stuff on twitter. There are few times when it's appropriate. Maybe it's different for celebrities but I think if you truly wanted to offer heartfelt condolences you'd find another way and it's more performance and how you're presenting yourself to the world than a display of genuine sentiment.

 

Their Brittany was terrible. I think that was the worst part. A good lead in a biopic can do a lot. She was neither Brittany nor a good actress. Also, the accents the actors for Brittany and Simon adopted were... yeah.

 

The movie kept rattling along. It wasn't fast enough to feel lively but it was too quick to build up anything except the papparazzi are evil and she has a close relationship with her mom. They spent less than 5 minutes on Clueless.

 

They actually hired a pretty good Ashton. They didn't give him a lot to do but he was a reasonable approximation of the real thing and his acting was decent.

[aradia22]

 

Since I don't want to watch this (Lifetime biopics make me break out in hives, and I have places to be this week), can anyone confirm if they mentioned my 3rd favorite teen girl murder comedy, Drop Dead Gorgeous? I figured if they did, someone would have mentioned bad Kirsten Dunst, Kirstie Alley, or Denise Richards wigs, so I'm gonna guess...no.

Nope. Not even mentioned in passing.

[Maharincess]

Why didn't her mother or husband take this girl to the hospital?! At one point her mom said she'd been sick for 2 weeks. They should have been brought up on charges for just letting her lie there and die!

If it was my kid, no matter her age, I'd have called 911 when she first had trouble breathing.

So many unanswered questions about her death. Has her mom been interviewed since Simon's death?

There's something weird going on somewhere.

[tomorrowgirl]

I see that I'm not alone in my opinion that this was a crappy movie.  I think it was sunk right from the beginning because that actress was not the right choice to play Brittany Murphy.  If they can't get the casting of the star of the movie right, they have no business making the movie.  When it was over, I asked myself why I wasted that time on it. 

[aradia22]

I watched the Anna Nicole movie Lifetime did. They aired it before the Brittany Murphy movie so I taped it. They did such a better job on that one. There was still a weird attempt at artistry with the different selves but it told a very similar story much more sympathetically and honestly. I think it really helped that they hired a good Anna as well as other legitimate actors to fill out the cast.

[Armchair Critic]

The best casting was for Ashton as others have said. Simon was terrible. I remember reading that he and her mother were sharing a bed after Brittany died, don't know how true that was but he was an odd duck for sure.

[Howyougetthegirl91]

I felt the actress playing her was trying to copy her accent and mannerisms from Clueless , but she did it the whole movie instead of just the Clueless part. Not to mention the actress looked nothing like her. I thought the Ashton guy was the best casting as it really could past for him IMO.

[Kristen]

I knew this takedown would be great, but Sarah's Monjack variations, as the kids say, gave me life.

Edited September 10, 2014 by Kristen

[CaliforniaLove]

Did Kailyn from Teen Mom 2 lose 60 pounds to play this role? Since it was filmed in 16 days, I assume it must have been cast in approximately 16 seconds.

[Maharincess]

I thought she looked like Kail too.

[turbogirlnyc]

Since I don't want to watch this (Lifetime biopics make me break out in hives, and I have places to be this week), can anyone confirm if they mentioned my 3rd favorite teen girl murder comedy, Drop Dead Gorgeous? I figured if they did, someone would have mentioned bad Kirsten Dunst, Kirstie Alley, or Denise Richards wigs, so I'm gonna guess...no.

 

Drop Dead Gorgeous is my 2nd favorite teen movie period. And I thought Brittany was hilarious in it. "Peter is gay mom, GAY!" Shame they didn't mention it.

Edited September 11, 2014 by turbogirlnyc

[Mckinnonsgirl]

I knew it, yes I knew it, but I still tuned into this trainwreck and that is without a doubt what it was. 

 

And how sad that her memory was limited to an emotionally insecure little girl, and while that might have been true, I'm also pretty sure that it would sadden Brittany to know this is how she was remembered.

 

I was disappointed that Sherilynn Fenn took this job, she is so much better than this tabloid fodder storytelling.

 

Bad points

Writing (or lack there of)

Casting (save for the guy who played Ashton)

Wigs, Wigs, & More Wigs

 

Lifetime just a note:  Fire your casting director today, as in right this second, and get someone that actually has vision.

 

I finally realized what Lifetime has become, do you recall those FOX TV movies from the 90's?  Denny Dillon as Roseanne anyone?

 

<<sigh>> 

Edited September 11, 2014 by Mckinnonsgirl

[aradia22]

 

I was disappointed that Sherilynn Fenn took this job, she is so much better than this tabloid fodder storytelling.

Well, she did do an Elizabeth Taylor biopic. I'd really love to see that as it seems like it would be much more fun than this. Also, Lifetime didn't make the movie. They just aired it. 

[Mckinnonsgirl]

I stand corrected on Lifetime not making the movie, but I do still hold them accountable for airing it.  Now don't get me wrong, I fell into the trap and watched it,  which generates the buck for the network and can come back and bite me in the butt as being a hypocrite... but personally, what I'm most disappointed in, is that the majority of network tv execs don't care about substance or actual storytelling anymore. But that's for another discussion.

[txhorns79]

I thought the movie was kind of an incomprehensible mess.  I didn't understand Brittany's motivations at all with regards to her husband.  I thought they did a terrible job of explaining why she would not only stay with him, but double down and marry the guy if she knew he was essentially a con artist.   

[stillshimpy]

Reading this thread is as close as I'll get to watching the movie, and reactions here confirm that as the best plan. I did really enjoy the PTV piece on it though, so at least I have that.

It's a tiny bit embarrassing to admit because the quality of her projects took a dive towards the terrible, but I liked Brittany Murphy to the extent that I'd actually watch a movie because she was in it. Admittedly at home, on cable, or Netflix when it was relatively free to me...because I liked her but her career went over a cliff there towards the end of her life.

I liked her, but I didn't find it surprising that her career tanked. She was adorable and fairly gifted, but even her appearance made it obvious that she was troubled. She weighed as much a cheese slice by the end of her life and she'd married a clear and present scam artist.

Anyway, thanks for the entertainment of reading this thread. Hopefully this thing will die in obscurity and quite promptly. She was a troubled person, with terrible self-esteem, truly tragic taste in men and the architect of her own destruction, but even a still from the movie is enough to tell, she didn't deserve a nylon-wig-infested biopic with questionable casting and terrible production values as the last time she's likely to be remembered on film. It's much better if this thing slips quietly into the annals of Lifetime's more regrettable decisions.

Edited September 15, 2014 by stillshimpy

[sunrisepink]

Why didn't her mother or husband take this girl to the hospital?! At one point her mom said she'd been sick for 2 weeks. They should have been brought up on charges for just letting her lie there and die!

 

It's truly baffling that she was never taken to the hospital. It seems like her death could have easily been prevented if she had been given the correct medical care. How was she getting all those prescription medications if she never went to the doctor?

[Bruinsfan]

 And we've still got the Angela Basset-directed Whitney biopic to look forward to. If only there were a fourth on deck, Lifetime could hit for the cycle.

Everything Basset touches on the acting side turns to gold, so there's still a chance that the same will hold true for her in the director's chair.