Monday, February 22, 1999
Songs of Sonny and Cher beat on with coming film
TELEVISION: Duo’s fame revived on small screen as reminiscent
’60s tale
By Mark McGuire
Albany Times Union
ALBANY, N.Y. — Even after his death, we are still
underestimating Sonny Bono.
His dad thought he was a failure when as a young man Sonny was
delivering meat for a living.
Cher doubted him several times: That he could make them a hit
team (he did); that he could make her a movie star (he couldn’t;
that came later); that he could resurrect their career in Las
Vegas, and write another hit song more in line with the late ’60s
sound (he did, "And the Beat Goes On"), and that the two could make
it with their own television show (they did).
And the public, well, Sonny always made a great punch line to a
lot of jokes.
So that the Sonny and Cher story was being turned into a
television movie for ABC (and the February sweeps) was initially
greeted with a yawn and a smirk, especially since NBC had "the
movie event of a generation" coming up with its two-part "The
’60s."
We underestimated Sonny yet again. "The ’60s" was lame. "And the
Beat Goes On: The Sonny & Cher Story" (Monday at 9 p.m. EST,
check local listings) is not. For a made-for-television movie, it
is pretty good.
As "The ’60s" was in part victim to overhyped expectations, "And
the Beat Goes On: The Sonny & Cher Story" is a beneficiary of
less lofty ambitions. What makes the movie work is the stunningly
perfect casting of the title characters, an extended nationwide
search that unearthed two relative newcomers.
Jay Underwood is Sonny, a mish-mash of superficial insecurities
and ticks masking a bedrock of determination.
Simply said and without exaggeration, Renee Faia was born to
play Cher. Her eyes and nose, which along with the waist-length
hair were Cher’s most prominent features, are dead-on. Faia also
captures the world-weary countenance of the singer and actress, the
roll of the eyes, the barbs she directed at Sonny as part of the
act that wasn’t always acting.
"And the Beat Goes On: The Sonny & Cher Story" is not the
whole story – it is based on Sonny’s book, and overwhelmingly
concentrates on the 1960s and early 1970s – but stops well short of
hagiography. It is not a movie event of a generation, but
accomplishes what it sets out to do: be a movie for a Monday
night.
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