Premise: Billie Holiday is a famous black singer who the government is determined to take down by using her drug addiction to their advantage.
I'm going to take the easy way out and say that The US vs. Billie Holiday has many of the same strengths and weaknesses as last year's Judy, except maybe even more so. It's held up by Andra Day's Golden Globe winning performance. She is very good in this. If watched as just a character piece, the movie doesn't disappoint. It follows a decade in Holiday's life and shows her deterioration well. I had no memory of the song "Strange Fruit" going into this movie, and they build it up so much. It's not "Shallow" in A star is Born, but when they finally got to her singing it, that was quite a moment.
The movie is scattered and uneven though. It insists on framing much of it as an interview. I'm not sure why a straightforward narrative wasn't an option. The story has a lot of dips and lulls. And, I never had a great sense of why the FBI was going so hard after her for singing that song. So, Garrett Hedlund came off as more of a mustache curler than I think they intended.
The Oscar nominations will be out before I post this to prove me right or wrong, but The United States vs. Billie Holiday sure feels like more of a Stan & Ollie than a real contender to me. Still, Andra Day alone nearly makes it worth the time.
Verdict: Weakly Don't Recommend
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