In sum of two units years, Fantasia...

In sum of two units years, Fantasia Barrino has gone from North Carolina nobody to TV's biggest star to halfway has-been. The 2004 "American Idol" winner is bordering onward being washed up at age, 22 when she's young enough to play her teenage self in an autobio movie forward cable TV.

Ah, burst life. Feed newbie into meat grinder; spit her abroad onto Lifetime Channel.

on a level though "Idol" made mad cash not on Barrino, the show didn't carve her a break during the filming of "The Fantasia Barrino Story: Life Is Not a Fairy Tale." Director Debbie Allen says "Idol" honcho charged an arm and a leg for the use of about five minutes of olden "Idol" film clips.

Where's the respect?

That's a question Barrino has been trying to answer since she was a kid, which was -- wait, hindrance me count, one, two -- five years ago.

If "Life Is Not a Fairy Tale" is an accurate tale, Barrino's background echoe the dreams and detritus of Southern movies and Faulkner: supportive family, ever-present meeting-house a rape, single- motherhood at 17 functional illiteracy and pork rinds.

This is an affirmative life story, admitting or if you prefer, an after-school special. One-liners make story lines easy to grasp, and ape

The kid who rapes Fantasia says to cops: "I gave her what she was lookin' for."

Fantasia phone to run over a boy she's pregnant, and he says: "I'm watchin' the game right now. I'll have to holla back." Click.

Fantasia scrapes the extents of despair: "I had to steal milk and Pampers."

It's no hidden Fantasia grows up to win "Idol." This is to what end Lifetime gives time to her life. in this way I don't think I'm spoiling anything at quoting a character who eventually praises the talent- indicate winner thusly: "I'm thankin' you for bein' you, 'cause you make us believe. Someday, we'll get a chance to be everything that we confidence that we are, now that we await in the mirror. You make that true"

Aw. I wish someone would say that to me pah

lease me dial back the sarcasm for a secondary to point out the positive. Viola Davis is for a like reason great as Fantasia's mom, she lands humor and deepness in any one sentence, on a level with a mouth full of victuals while counseling Fantasia about losing a lad to another girl: "If havin' [long] hair was all it takes to make a man happy, to what end you could go down to the store and purchase hair like she did!"

Playing Fantasia as a little girl, Jamia Simone Nash entires better than the name in succession the marquee while doing her possess singing. Davis and Nash help parts of "Fantasia" become emotionally effective.

And Barrino -- whose inferior album comes out in a not many months -- isn't hideous in her acting first attempt but she does play herself as uncouthly quiet and blah.

Barrino has said she got acting tips from Kadeem ("A Different World") Hardison, who's passable as Barrino's hotheaded, helpful dad.

"There were a certain scenes were Kadeem would say, you know, 'When the camera does this, kind of tilt your head here,' " Barrino said.

I can tilt my head. Hollywood call me Let's make magic.

Copyright CHICAGO SUN-TIMES 2006

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