You Light up My Life Reviews

This movie will always be best remembered by it's catchy Oscar winning title song. It's not an awful movie, but borders on it. Didi Conn is appealing, but the film has a cheap look to it. Director Joseph Brooks should have let someone else have a hand in the film. He directed, produced, wrote and musically supervised the film. It might have given it a better result.

It was special at that time...1977, cheesy sure, but the song made it...I enjoyed it at the time.

** (out of four)

What a melodramtic and overly simplistic look at the entertainment world through the eyes of the innocent looking and acting Didi Conn. Nothing feels authentic in this misguided and sugary tale.

Didi Conn has had a comic act with her father for years. Now she is grown and wants to be a singer in Hollywood. Her talent catches the eye of a director (Michael Zaslow) and he entices her with the lure of stardom and tempts her to cheat on her fiancee.

If ever there was a movie where a song overshadows the entire reputation of a movie it is this one. Debby Boone's "You Light Up My Life" became the biggest hit of the 1970's and today few people even realize it was from a film. That is probably good since it is almost laughable when little mousy Didi Conn opens her mouth and the mature sounding voice of Debby Boone comes out. It is some of the worst lip syncing I've ever seen.

This movie will always be best remembered by it's catchy Oscar winning title song. It's not an awful movie, but borders on it. Didi Conn is appealing, but the film has a cheap look to it. Director Joseph Brooks should have let someone else have a hand in the film. He directed, produced, wrote and musically supervised the film. It might have given it a better result.

When I was three years old I stood on a bale of hay at a church BBQ and sang the theme song from "You Light Up My Life". It was cute and made the very small towns local paper. It's been a family holiday story ever since. My neice and sister gave me a music box that plays the song. I finally watched the movie, well at least it seemed like the first time because I didn't really remember it the first time. I was so little.

Let's just say the movie tries to be cute ... or maybe it just happened that way because Didi Con can't get past her Frenchy character from Grease.

The movie is about a young girl who is easily influenced by the people around her. She is shy and quiet and has a horrible squeaky, high pitched voice but some how when she sings she has a deep sultry loud voice. And Didi Con can't even lip-sink well. She makes all kinds of jestures that are impossible for someone trying to sing loud. Also, you can see her taking a breath when the voice over is singing. It's terrible.

The costume and makeup people put so much black dye onto Didi's head it looks fake. And with that whiney voice I just wanted to slap the character.

"Wake up will ya? For God's sake will ya get a back bone? And stop talking!!"

*sigh* I kinda wish I hadn't seen the movie at all. I prefered the family story of me singing the song.