Amy Winehouse Biopic 'Back To Black' Gets Mixed Reviews After ...

The first reviews for the upcoming Amy Winehouse biopic, “Back to Black,” are largely mixed with criticism for the film but praise for lead actress Marisa Abela’s performance, following social media backlash from users who feared the film would exploit the trauma Winehouse faced in her life.

Marisa Abela portrays Amy Winehouse in "Back To Black." (Photo by Mike Marsland/WireImage)

Hamish Macbain, a Rotten Tomatoes top critic for the London Evening Standard, said the film was “so bad it made me gasp in horror,” citing “deep moral and ethical problems” and how the film “doesn’t bother to establish just how quickly Amy Winehouse became as famous as she did.” Rotten Tomatoes top critic Hayley Campbell criticized the film for Empire Magazine, lamenting the “weak script” and comparing it unfavorably to the 2015 documentary “Amy,” which won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. Rogan Graham, a Rotten Tomatoes top critic for Little White Lies, slammed the film for portraying Winehouse as a “friendless addict and tabloid joke” while serving as an “excellent alibi for those in Amy’s life who preyed upon her vulnerability and benefitted from her being overworked and exploited.”

Many reviews—even those that were otherwise negative—praised Abela for her performance as the singer. Variety critic Owen Gleiberman said Abela “nails Amy Winehouse in every look, mood, utterance, and musical expression” while praising the film as a “forthright and compelling movie.” The Hollywood Reporter critic Leslie Felperin considered the film’s exploration of Winehouse to be surface level, but praised Abela for delivering a “barnstormer of a performance.”

The film sparked some controversy long before its release from social media users who feared it would exploit the singer’s mental health and substance abuse issues. In January 2023, pictures depicting Abela as Winehouse filming a scene in which she appears disheveled and emotional went viral on social media, with one tweet calling the pictures “f*cking revolting” garnering more than 32,000 likes. The trailer, which has 10 million views on YouTube, was also inundated with negative comments. “This won’t answer any questions or bring anything new to light. It will just dramatize an ultimately sad and painful end,” the top comment, liked more than 7,000 times, reads. “We really don't need an impression of her. Let her rest,” another comment with more than 4,000 likes states. Taylor-Johnson defended the film amid the backlash, stating in an interview last week the film “joyfully honours Amy” and that any other approach would have been exploitation. “Noise will always be big about something like this, but nobody has really seen it yet and we’ve made it through Amy’s words, music, her perspective,” Taylor-Johnson said, before critics’ reviews were published.

Some reviews addressed the social media backlash that “Back to Black” garnered. Gleiberman slammed the “pile-on of Internet sniping” in his review for Variety, calling Abela’s portrayal of the singer “every inch the Winehouse we know.” In a two-star review, The Independent critic Charlotte O'Sullivan acknowledged the movie was “hugely controversial” ahead of its premiere but denied that it is the “trauma porn” some fans feared it might be.

Back to Black: Why the controversial Amy Winehouse biopic is angering fans (BBC)

Back to Black director clears up misconception about Amy Winehouse biopic (The Independent)