Lifetime is a little clueless

THE BRITTANY MURPHY STORY (2014)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

It is an impossible task to cast an actress who has the puppy dog eyes and glimmer of danger that the late Brittany Murphy had. Brittany was a unique, quirky actress who had a face that spoke of love and warmth, but with a slight edge. You could love the girl as she showed us naked honesty, but you also sensed that you could not wrong her or you could end up in trouble. She was the girl who could listen to music by, say, the Beatles but you might believe she was a closeted Ramones or Clash fan at heart. Amanda Fuller plays Brittany but Fuller looks too sweet, too wholesome minus the edginess - she looks more like an innocent Ellen Page. There ya go, Lifetime, cast this actress for the Ellen Page Story.

Amanda Fuller and Simon Monjack

"The Brittany Murphy Story" purportedly tells us about the rise and fall of the actress who hit her stride with films like "Clueless" and "Don't Say a Word" and hit her low with "Just Married" (a rom-com with Ashton Kutcher whom she had a brief relationship with). Most of this Lifetime biopic focuses on Brittany's loving, devoted relationship to her mother (Sherilyn Fenn) and her topsy-turby relationship with Simon Monjack (Eric Petersen, who appears more jovial than the real Simon who also passed away), a con-artist who happens to be a screenwriter and occasional press photographer (his screenwriting duties on the film "Factory Girl" have been disputed and settled out-of-court). Far more interesting is Adam Hagenbuch as Ashton (and boy is the resemblance uncanny), showing he had really cared for Brittany, but he disappears far too soon.

The real Brittany and Simon - see the spark?

"Brittany Murphy Story" could have used an infusion of energy - most of the film is flat and flatly photographed in monochromatic tones. It is almost as if Brittany's life is depicted as one of lost hope from the beginning and the allegations of drug abuse are mentioned again and again, but there is precious little attention attached to the films she made (not a word on "Girl, Interrupted" or "Sin City"). I wanted to see actress Amanda Fuller spring to life with the dynamic gusto that Brittany Murphy showed in her own films. Fuller infrequently casts a spark in the role - she is mostly dour and unflatteringly photographed. Though the film does not skimp on Brittany's dizzy spells or doldrums or bipolar condition, it makes no real distinction between early Brittany and down-in-the-dumps-curtains-closed Brittany. It only shows her in a dizzy spell from start to finish.