Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on July 2009

©2006 R-Caro Productions, LLC. All Rights Reserved

The music’s irresistible; the story, another biopic about another superstar junkie, is not. Hector Lavoe was a legend who is credited with blending Latin, jazz and pure New York vibrancy to create salsa. He’s played by Marc Anthony, a gifted musician whose covers of Lavoe’s tunes are almost worth sitting through the rest of this downer, but he’s not much of an actor. His enabling/berating wife Puchi is played with Oscar-baiting bitchiness by Mrs. Anthony, pet-project producer J.Lo, who has so many scenes she makes Hector seem like a supporting character. Recommendation: buy the soundtrack.