{"id":12217,"date":"2025-06-25T19:40:24","date_gmt":"2025-06-25T23:40:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=12217"},"modified":"2025-06-25T19:40:24","modified_gmt":"2025-06-25T23:40:24","slug":"graffiti-bridge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2025\/06\/25\/graffiti-bridge\/","title":{"rendered":"Graffiti Bridge"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Graffiti Bridge<\/strong> (1990)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Warner Bros.\/Musical-Drama\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 91 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated PG-13 (language, some suggestive material, mild violence)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Prince\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Prince\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Prince\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Bill Butler\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: November 2, 1990 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Prince, Morris Day, Jerome Benton, The Time, Ingrid Chavez, Jill Jones, Mavis Staples, George Clinton, Tevin Campbell, Robin Power, T.C. Ellis.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Box Office: $4.5M (US)<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: *<\/p>\n

Graffiti Bridge <\/strong>isn\u2019t a movie; it\u2019s a psychotic break with a soundtrack.<\/p>\n

\u00a0 The above is the most apt description of Graffiti Bridge<\/strong>, a quasi-sequel to Purple Rain, the smash hit musical drama that briefly made a movie star out of funk-rock star Prince. Whereas the 1984 film is set in a recognizable reality, the 1990 follow-up takes place in what looks like a funked-out version of the Neighborhood of Make-Believe except there\u2019s no trolley back to the real world. There is no escape from this weird place. Did anybody try clicking their heels three times while saying \u201cthere\u2019s no place like home\u201d?<\/p>\n

\u00a0PLOT? WHAT PLOT? Between the surreal aesthetic and musical performances every few minutes, I didn\u2019t notice much of a story. It would appear to be about the continued rivalry between The Kid (Prince playing a version of himself) and Morris Day (as himself). They\u2019re co-owners of a night club called Glam Slam. Day wants to take over the whole night club scene in the fictional Minneapolis neighborhood of Seven Corners. He wants Kid out because he continues to make music nobody but him likes. It\u2019s all going to come down to a battle of the bands between the two.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Divine intervention arrives in the form of Aura (poet-musician Chavez in her only film role), an angel sent from God to inspire Kid and help de-escalate the increasingly hostile situation with Day. She appears from out of nowhere in a dark alley and takes up residence at a local landmark called Graffiti Bridge. She\u2019s often seen sitting there writing poetry, just waiting for one of the guys to come along and flirt with her.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Besides the main characters, which also include Jerome Benton reprising his role as Day\u2019s right-hand man, the only connection Graffiti Bridge<\/strong> has to its predecessor is Kid writing letters to his now-deceased father. It\u2019s also mentioned that his mother has been institutionalized. In addition, Day\u2019s \u201cgirlfriend\u201d Robin (Power) is the daughter of Billy, the owner of the First Avenue club where Kid performed in the first movie. I was yesterday years old when I noticed that last thing.<\/p>\n

\u00a0In case you didn\u2019t know, you\u2019re talking to one of the few people who saw Graffiti Bridge<\/strong> at the cinema. I made a special Monday night trip to a multiplex not accessible by public transportation after 9pm. I could have seen it the night before while I was in the city, but I didn\u2019t feel like staying in town that late. I decided to wait until I felt less tired so I could fully absorb the Prince experience. And believe me, Graffiti Bridge<\/strong> is an experience. And I don\u2019t mean that in a good way. Not only is the Purple One\u2019s worst movie; it\u2019s one of the worst movies of the 90s (or any decade). It\u2019s what I call artistic masturbation. Prince made it to please nobody but himself. It\u2019s a vanity project gone wild. I am shocked the studio let him go through with it. It shows how much clout he had at the time.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Prince wore many hats on Graffiti Bridge<\/strong>. In addition to starring in it, he wrote and directed it. He also composed and performed most of the songs. Unfortunately, not a one of them is memorable. The Purple Rain soundtrack, still one of the best sellers of all time, contained so many great songs- e.g. \u201cWhen Doves Cry\u201d, \u201cLet\u2019s Go Crazy\u201d, \u201cI Would Die 4 U\u201d and the title track. Morris Day also had a couple of hits, \u201cJungle Love\u201d and \u201cThe Bird\u201d as did Apollonia, \u201cSex Shooter\u201d. I can\u2019t recall hearing a single song from Graffiti Bridge<\/strong> on the radio. Apparently, the album did pretty well; it charted at number 6 in the US. It also includes tracks by Mavis Staples, Tevin Campbell and The Time (w\/Morris Day). None of the songs are actually terrible; they\u2019re just forgettable. I think Prince\u2019s most ardent fans would beg to differ on this point.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Graffiti Bridge<\/strong> contains some really goofy dialogue. Some it sounds like it comes from a fortune cookie. Some of it is just inexplicable. Here are but a few samples:<\/p>\n

\u201cAre there really angels, or are they just in our minds? It all comes out in the wash… in time.\u201d (Opening lines)<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can’t fight fire with fire. When a man screams, you must learn to whisper.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just around the corner.\u201d (Repeated throughout)<\/p>\n

There\u2019s more, but this should give you an idea of what to expect. The characters speak like nobody from the real world thus making stronger my argument that the movie takes place in some imaginary world far from reality. Geographically, it might be closer to the small town stuck in the 50s time warp in Cool as Ice (the one with Vanilla Ice).<\/p>\n

\u00a0Do I even need to say it? The acting in Graffiti Bridge<\/strong> is terrible. I\u2019m talking all caps B-A-D! Prince is a magnetic performer, but an actor he\u2019s not. The only time he\u2019s ever given something close to a performance is Purple Rain and he was essentially playing himself. Here, in his final theatrical film, he plays an even weirder version of himself. To his credit, he keeps the character drama stuff to a minimum in favor of performing music. It\u2019s the only thing he gets right in this wrong-headed movie.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Day is just as bad if not worse. In the original movie, he was a rival musician with a huge ego. In this one, he\u2019s a crime boss set on taking over the entire club scene in Seven Corners. He sends his gang (played by members of back-up band The Time) to do his bidding. One thing that hasn\u2019t changed is how he treats women. If anything, it got worse. Look no further than the bit where he takes Aura on a date with Jerome in tow (of course). The plan is to get her drunk and take advantage of her when she passes out. Fortunately, Kid activates his super powers and rescues her in the nick of time, leaving the guys confused.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Chavez is nice to look at and has a pleasing voice, but has zero acting ability. She was a last-minute replacement for Kim Basinger who dropped out after she and Prince broke up. Yes, they dated for a while. Reportedly, Sheena Easton, Mayte Garcia and Sheila E. were also considered for the role of Aura before Chavez got the gig. This is her one and only acting credit. Considering what she shows here, and it isn\u2019t much, it\u2019s all for the best.<\/p>\n

\u00a0If Prince is a terrible actor, he\u2019s an even worse filmmaker. Like his character, he makes art for his own gratification. He\u2019s the only one who gets it. Therein lies the paradox. How do you get it when there\u2019s nothing to get? Graffiti Bridge<\/strong> is an empty package with a shiny wrapper. It looks good, but there\u2019s nothing inside. The movie is really nothing more than a series of music videos strung together by something resembling a plot. To be fair, it was originally supposed to be a vehicle for Day and The Time. That is, until Prince got involved and turned it into what it is now. That would explain the disconnect between Kid\u2019s personal story and the plot involving Day\u2019s power grab attempt.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I\u2019ll admit the film\u2019s visual style is unique. A combination of neon lights, dry ice, slo-mo shots and a primary color palette, it\u2019s surreal and dreamlike. One of the visual motifs is a lone white feather floating in the air. Hey, maybe this is where the makers of Forrest Gump got the idea. You think? A lot of Graffiti Bridge<\/strong> was shot on a soundstage which explains the artifice that overtakes the whole project. It\u2019s been described as \u201cavant-purple\u201d, but that\u2019s just a fancy term for artistic masturbation.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Like I said at the onset, Graffiti Bridge<\/strong> is like a psychotic break captured on film. It makes no sense. It\u2019s as far removed from any discernible reality as a Dali painting. How did it get made? How did it get released? How did Prince not become a laughing stock? The world will never know the answers to any of these questions (Prince died in 2016) and maybe we\u2019re better off not knowing. Perhaps we\u2019ll find out in the afterlife.\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Graffiti Bridge (1990)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Warner Bros.\/Musical-Drama\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 91 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated PG-13 (language, some suggestive material, mild violence)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Prince\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Prince\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Prince\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Bill Butler\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: November 2, 1990 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Prince, Morris Day, Jerome Benton, The Time, Ingrid Chavez, Jill Jones, Mavis Staples, George Clinton, Tevin Campbell, Robin Power, T.C. Ellis.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Box Office: […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12257,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12217","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-guilty-pleasures","category-musical"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Graffiti-Bridge-PIC.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12217","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12217"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12217\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12259,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12217\/revisions\/12259"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12257"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12217"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12217"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12217"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}