Superb debut performance by Diana Ross as Billie Holiday is absolutely the only reason to see this dreary biopic. Plays fast and loose with the facts, as anybody who has actually read Holiday's autobiography knows. Shockingly mediocre supporting cast, including an extremely hammy Richard Pryor, helps make this film a real snore between Ross/Holiday's musical numbers and heroin addiction scenes. If you want the real Billie, try PBS' American Masters documentary of a few years back. Ross does not exactly sing like Holiday, only getting a few of her famous vocal nuances in, but they are some of her most passionate performances caught on film. She also doesn't exactly resemble Holiday, who was rather plump early on, but she just so commands the screen...amazing how few films she has ultimately made, though the specter of Dorothy Dandridge looms large.