Marc Anthony plays the smack-addicted singer, who has some dynamite numbers but not much to say for himself.
– J. R. Jones,
Chicago Reader,
9 Aug 2007
fresh:
I would have liked to have seen a more in-depth look at the salsa movement. Still, we do get a lot of great music, and Anthony is a natural onscreen in a tailor-made role.
– Richard Roeper,
Ebert & Roeper,
9 Aug 2007
rotten:
El Cantante has to legitimize its subject before it can immortalize him; and in the effort, it makes the mistake of letting a star get in the way of the truth.
– Mark Lepage,
Globe and Mail,
17 Aug 2007
rotten:
This may be one of the very few biopics in which the subject is marginalized to the point of irrelevance.
– Geoff Pevere,
Toronto Star,
17 Aug 2007
rotten:
This messy, maudlin portrait of the decline and decline of Puerto Rico-born salsa star Hector Lavoe wavers uncertainly between cable channel biopic and socially concerned drug movie.