Roxanne Roxanne

Roxanne Roxanne is a 2017 American musical drama film written and directed by Michael Larnell. It stars Chanté Adams, Mahershala Ali, Nia Long, Elvis Nolasco, Kevin Phillips and Shenell Edmonds. The film revolves around the life of rapper Roxanne Shante. It was screened in the U.S. Dramatic Competition section of the 2017 Sundance Film Festival.
Release.
In January 2017, Neon acquired distribution rights to the film. However, in December 2017, it was revealed that Netflix had won worldwide rights to the film.
Critical reception.
On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 70% based on 30 reviews, and an average rating of 6/10. The website's critical consensus reads, ""Roxanne Roxanne" belatedly honors its subject with a gripping character-driven biopic that serves as a primer for a trailblazing career while telling an often tragic story." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 74 out of 100, based on ten critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
On RogerEbert.com, Nick Allen gave the film 2 stars. Comparing the movie to David O. Russell's "Joy", he said: "Like "Joy", this story feels overwhelmingly like the writer/director's version of their subject's lives, rendering "Roxanne Roxanne" a portrait that's as expressive as it is incomplete."