Surviving Compton: Dre, Suge & Michel'le (2016 TV Movie) User Reviews (7)

Straight Outta Lifetime

[Seth_Rogue_One · 6/10 · 6 December 2016]

Not bad by Lifetime bio-pic standards, occasionally fairly good actually.

It does get a little held back though by that fact that explicit language and 'grown up material' gets censored (at least when aired on Lifetime TV) but not too bad... The first scene of domestic violence is still very much disturbing. And of course the running-time is confined to 90 minutes and gets a little unfocused here and there due to trying to squeeze in too much in too little time.

A couple issues regarding some smaller details of the script which me as a hiphop-head might know a little too much about to believe, for one the fact that they made it look like the reason Dre and Eazy E clashed was because of his treatment of Michel'e. Gotta call bogus on that.

And also for some reason they portray Tupac and Dre as best friends even claiming that Pac hated Suge and was gonna join him on Aftermath, which couldn't be more far from the truth. In fact Tupac was a big reason why Dre ended up leaving Death Row because he wasn't cool with him taking credit for music he didn't do and made countless of disses to Dre after he left (Toss It Up, Watch Ya Mouth etc).

But that's neither here or there in terms of the quality of the movie I suppose, and I don't think there have been a single movie based on a true story where they didn't change something and it's still a decent watch.

There's a lot of talks in the comments about her voice, Michel'e does have a childs speaking voice (and the actress playing her puts one on as well) and it did caught me off guard the first time I saw her in a interview but you get used to it after a while.

So yeah overall watchable, maybe a (uncensored) extended blu ray or something would be an idea. Lifetime?

Surviving Compton is an under cover gem!!!

[Serenity3000 · 6/10 · 23 March 2022]

I wasn't expecting much out of this low budget movie. Rhyon Nichole Brown is excellent as the very talented and abused Michel'le and Curtis Hamilton is good as the abusive Dr. Dre. Watching this film made me dislike the rapper even more than I already do. Yes, he has good music, but as a person he garbage and I can't even call him a man. Abusive men are the slim of the earth and weak. The writing in this film was also pretty good. Watching this film the question is always, why didn't Michel'le leave? It is the million dollar question that real life women deal with every day. Love, kids, family, whatever the reason, leaving is the best option in getting away from the abuser.

Eazy E is probably the smartest guy in this movie because he knew trouble was coming in the name of Suge Knight. RIP. Unfortunately, this didn't stop Michel'le from hooking up with Suge after she finally got the courage to leave Dr. Dre. She moved from one psycho to another one. Bad decisions by Michel'le over and over again, but you live and learn.

Overall pretty good film and I would recommend others to watch and give this movie a chance.

Well-done at times, horrible at others

[derrickking-01934 · 7/10 · 4 April 2022]

The lead actress playing Michel'le did a fantastic job. No faults at all in her performance.

Jamie Kennedy does a solid job playing Jerry Heller. The wig is horrible, but his performance was good.

Having said that - the casting director needs to be fired for everybody else. (Mainly Ice Cube and Eazy-E)

The abuse depiction was surprisingly well-made, and very disturbing to watch.

This film gets a 6.5/10 for me.

Brilliant movie

[brummieman · 9/10 · 24 April 2021]

I dont know why people rate it low, the actress and actors were excellent. Michel'le really does talk like that and the actress mimicked her voice well. I got used to the voice pretty quick and found it intriguing to know someone who sings so powerfully doesn't speak in the same way. The story is disturbing and uncomfortable at times but it is a packed and powerful story of survival from someone who has lived a dangerous and never a dull life. I still play her song 'something in my heart' so I'm a fan but certainly not showing any bias, the story needed to be told, it will help anyone who is in a similar situation, I hope Michel'le continues to do well and with a singing voice as good as hers I hope she releases more tunes.

Don't ya wonder?

[stskotty · 5/10 · 13 March 2020]

For the people who couldn't stand the lead actresses voice, do you think they would make a bio pic and for no reason have the character's voice sound like that? You could've Googled it in 2 seconds and found out why the actresses was using that voice. For those who either knew the story of Michel"le or learned by actually watching the movie there were a few nuggets of info from her perspective that were interesting though sad. This was decent for a lifetime flick.

Surviving Hell

[dcarsonhagy · 4/10 · 2 November 2016]

I don't usually review "made-for-TV-movies," but this time I'll make an exception. "Surviving Compton" is a story about--and narrated by--former pop star Michel'le. It seems before her "15 minutes," she was involved with Dr. Dre, NWA, Shuge Knight, Death Row Records, and also had brief interactions with Tu Pac, MC Hammer, and anyone else who just hung around.

Hers was a life of hell. Pregnant by "I'll-do-anyone-who-stops- moving-for-too-long," Dr. Dre, then wooed, used, and abused by Suge Knight while he was in jail, I had to continually ask myself why did she stay? See, growing up in a family of women who would just as soon knock your ass off as look at you, it defies description for me to watch any kind of film where women are used as punching bags. Let's just say that I have an entirely different opinion of Dr. Dre after watching this film. It takes some kind of "man" to beat on a helpless woman, doesn't it? And the thugs he surrounded himself with were no better. Oh, you heard a lot of "that ain't right" BS, but not one would stand up and help her.

I found the film very choppy at times lacking much (if any) cohesiveness. Random scenes appeared, as did characters, and the movie jumped around quite a bit. Authenticity also has to be questioned because the NWA in this screen version came across as angels. But (and this is probably the biggest problem I had) what really got on my nerves was the voice of Michel'le. Not only did the real Michel'le narrate this, but her screen portrayal also had that same 3-year old voice that (a) you couldn't understand, and (b) made you want to turn the movie off. Honestly, as pointed out by another reviewer, the experience might have been more tolerable had subtitles been used.

The movie ends with Michel'le singing some torch song about survival, coming to terms, and acceptance. Uh...yeah. The movie is pretty tame but does have some racy moments, a little language, and drug use. I cannot really recommend it, but it is free so you may want to check it out.

Yeah right

[stwthms · 2/10 · 19 June 2022]

No more lies! Unless it's this movie! Its 2 sides to every story and Michelle gave her side to make her life seem like it was worth a What's love gotta do with it with the hip hop makeover script that didn't need to be made into a movie at all! I believe about 5% of the interactions between her and Dre!