A very feeble attempt at affirmatie action

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

The film starts off right at the height of her career. 1995 was a big year for Selena. She had just won a Grammy the year before for Selena Live and had started working with the label to record her English album. As a Selena fan I enjoyed that the film humanized Selena and her humble upbringing. When she passed away, there were many negative rumors surrounding her death and the woman who killed her. This film does a great job in focusing on her talent and career. I gave this video a 8/10 for a few reasons. 1. Certain key elements in Selena's career were left out of the movie. For example, Selena y Los Dinos when they first appeared on the show Johnny Canales. Johnny Canales gave a young teenage Selena the opportunity to be featured on live television multiple times throughout her career. You can literally see her progression as a singer, dancer and even her fluency in Spanish. The moment and events leading up to Selena getting signed by Capital EMI Latin (now Universal Music) were also left out of the movie. *NOTE: In the deleted scenes of the movie it is shown how they received the news and their excitement of being signed with the label. Jose Behar (signed Selena) has said in multiple interviews how he came to discovering Selena y Los Dinos. He describes attending a TMA event in search for an artist to sign up. There is where he saw teenage Selena perform for the first time. Selena and the Dinos eventually did perform in Disney World. Referencing from the scene where young Selena optimistically believes in her dad's vision of the band making it and performing in big venues like Disney World. It would have been nice to have had that concert replicated in the movie. The concert that was recorded and titled "Selena Live" in 1993 was not featured in the film. That event was the most iconic and epic concert in her career. She won a Grammy the following year because of it. Her wardrobe for that concert was also very beautiful. She wore a purple rhinestone jacket/ boots and a bustier ( it is the inspiration of the official Selena wax figure at Madame Tussaud's Hollywood). 2. The way Selena and Chris actually met was far off than what the movie depicts. Read "To Selena with Love" by Chris Perez (Selena's Husband) and you will learn how they truly met and fell in love. The cast for the film was the best that anyone could ask for. Jennifer Lopez did an amazing job in acting, performing and capturing her charisma. Selena would have been an international star by now. We can only dream of what could have been.

We had to watch this in Spanish class and review it as part of our unit about movies, so it's actually my second review for this. I wasn't expecting that much, and my expectations were pretty much met. I understand that people loved Selena and that she was an icon that defined a lot of people's culture, but that doesn't help me appreciate this adaptation of her life. I've always found that I learn a lot more about life from fiction than from stories about actual events. Plus, I always feel like movies about real people and events are pushing you to take them seriously because they "actually happened", which is annoying because a lot of times those movies are a bit lame. This biopic had a lot of the usual negative symptoms, and there's nothing terribly praiseworthy about it.The story doesn't have a whole lot of structure to it, which is not surprising since most people's lives do not follow dramatic patterns. There are some attempts at cohesive plot threads, but these don't come out great. Part of this is due to the nature of the events they are based off of, and part of it is because of insufficient screen writing. The most prominent of these is Selena's strained relationship with Chris, which I think may have been over- dramatized but I'm ignorant as to how it actually panned out. The final conflict with Yolanda would not have worked at all in a fiction story, but I think they did a decent job introducing Yolanda and her friendship with Selena through the limited time that they were afforded with her character. In some ways, it seems like it would have been a better decision to not end the movie with Selena's death, but I think it was necessary since it was geared toward mourning fans that took Selena's passing as personally as that of a family member.Selena is given personality, but I didn't buy in to all of it. She is shown as having a carefree joy that many female protagonists of the past have had, but I'm not sure I believe this to be accurate given her lifestyle. Abraham was easily the best all around character and probably had the best acting performance from Edward Olmos. Chris felt like a pretty flat character that never really got the right kind of attention on screen, as in maybe getting his own scene.The execution is satisfactory at many points and even a bit noteworthy during the concert montages, but there are a number of problems with it as well. Jennifer Lopez does not exactly give a bad performance, but it definitely could have been better. Selena's younger actress was unimpressive at a few points, particularly in her generic portrayals of different emotions. Yolanda's actress probably gave the worst performance out of anyone, followed by Chris. However, Chris might have been poorly written rather than poorly acted. Some of the dialogue flowed nicely, and I didn't notice any problems with it at most points, but whenever the characters' words discussed some event that had been skipped over, it came off as really forced.If you're a Selena fan, you've probably already seen this and you might like it if you haven't. If you aren't a fan of biopics, this is not one of the stronger products of the genre. There isn't much of a cohesive story, which may be worth knowing for some. I wouldn't say that it's worth spending money on, but it's bound to be pretty cheap anyways. Overall Rating: 6.4/10

This is a biopic of Selena Quintanilla-Perez (Jennifer Lopez). Back in 1961 Corpus Christi, Texas, Abraham Quintanilla faced racism from the whites on the one hand, and rejection from the Mexican community of their 'white' music on the other hand. He (Edward James Olmos) settles down in Lake Jackson, Texas raising a family. He starts a family band despite objections from wife Marcela (Constance Marie). Then he starts a restaurant and quits his job again against Marcela's wishes. He keeps pushing the kids especially young Selena even when the restaurant goes under. He's a true stage dad. She falls for hired guitarist Chris Perez (Jon Seda) and gets married in secret.Jennifer Lopez comes in after 30 minutes. It's fine because the childhood story is actually good, and they've got the great Edward James Olmos holding it together. EJO is truly amazing. Jennifer Lopez shows that she has the acting chops. Writer/director Gregory Nava has made the standard biopic. It's sweet. The family drama is good. They don't push anything outrageous. The killing is relegated to the back and Yolanda Saldivar isn't explored that deeply.

Selena was not all that to begin with. I lived in the same neighborhood she did. I didn't know her personally, but heard enough about her to dislike her. When she died, I didn't much care. She was treated like a goddess here. Murels, paintings, renaming of the convention center, etc. Enough is enough. Her music was mediocre at best. Her dad was twice the ass he was portrayed in this movie. He was a selfish man who cared about no one but himself. His daughter died, and he used the opportunity to make an extra buck. This movie sucked, and was misleading as to the true nature of the incident and circumstances surrounding it.