Beyond the Lights

There’s probably some heartfelt intention buried within the romantic melodrama Beyond the Lights, which aspires to show us that sometimes the personal sacrifices made for fame and fortune aren’t really worth it, after all.

Yet between its examination of the perils of celebrity, to the shallow nature of media and the music business, to the ruthless stage moms who exploit the careers of their own children, the film doesn’t exactly offer much insight behind the scenes.

It chronicles Noni (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), who grew up in London with an overbearing single mother (Minnie Driver) who shuttled her between child pageants and talent shows, determined to make her a star and keep her in the spotlight.

Flash forward several years, and she’s a pop star on the rise in the United States, collaborating with famous rappers and garnering paparazzi attention, with her mom as her manager. But away from the stage and the studio, the reluctant Noni feels a creative and personal void.

That leads to a suicide attempt one night at a hotel, when security guard Kaz (Nate Parker) literally talks her off the ledge. The incident creates tabloid headlines and eventually an attraction between the two, with Noni seeing the working-class Kaz as someone who values her for more than her business connections and record deals.

The screenplay by director Gina Prince-Bythewood (Love and Basketball) keeps the focus on the radiant Noni, but more compelling is the tale of Kaz, the innocent bystander who is thrust into a media frenzy thanks to a split-second act of heroism. Both feel parental pressure in different ways, with Kaz’s father (Danny Glover) encouraging him to capitalize on the moment by running for public office.

However, any attempt at social commentary about our obsession with celebrity culture is undermined in the second half, which devolves into a series of overwrought emotional outbursts that merely pander to mainstream expectations.

Since the narrative arc is so predictable, the film relies significantly on the chemistry between its two leads, and thus works best in its more intimate moments, when Mbatha-Raw (Belle) and Parker (The Great Debaters) can take a moment to breathe. One lovely sequence involves a weekend getaway at a Mexican beach resort.

Beyond the Lights drowns those quieter moments by making a lot of noise without saying much of anything.

Rated PG-13, 116 minutes.