Olivia Newton-John: Hopelessly Devoted to You (2018) User Reviews (19)

Hitting The Highlights

[atlasmb · 6/10 · 18 February 2019]

This TV special features Delta Goodrem in the title role. I confess I was not familiar with her until I watched this show. She is a beautiful, talented actress/singer, but she is not Olivia Newton-John, so the decision to record Ms. Goodrem's versions of ON-J's hits for this special left me wanting. I must admit there were moments when her voice did invoke the tones of Olivia's instrument, but at other times I missed the vulnerable and emotional nature of that original voice.

It's an ambitious undertaking to cover Olivia's less-than-storybook life in two hours, so this biopic hit the highlights of her life rather quickly. Since her life is well-documented, there are no surprises and no untold story. But the narrative is serviceable, with only a couple of glaring omissions.

Those unfamiliar with Olivia's career and life will probably find this story disjointed. Those who witnessed her successes and her trials via the media might wish for revelations not found in this special.

Probably only worth it for people familiar with Olivia

[LiveLoveLead · 6/10 · 20 February 2019]

OK so this wasn't the best bio movie. They crammed 50 years into 2 hours so there is little detail or depth therefor, if you didn't really grow up in that time period, knowing who Olivia Newton-John was, this movie won't mean much or be very entertaining... you might even get a bit lost. For fans or people from that generation, we know some of the actors/people she dated, the movies, songs, and some of the events so we can fill in the blanks. All the acting was pretty mediocre. I know other reviewers especially trashed actress Delta Goodrem but I thought her acting and singing were descent enough, and she is an Australian singer and actress so she had the authentic accent and a good voice, even though she's no Olivia Newton-John. So, not the best but might be entertaining enough for a fan or a dull afternoon, In My Humble Opinion. 5.5 stars. Feb 2019.

Not as bad as others are saying.

[caffeinequeen18 · 7/10 · 7 February 2019]

I actually think Delta did a decent job as Olivia, with the acting and the songs. My main problem is that they didn't really age her too well in the later parts, she pretty much looks 29 the whole way through. Also felt like the ending was abrupt and didn't go deeply enough into some parts. I'm not especially an Olivia fan, though I grew up on Grease and Xanadu, I didn't really know a great deal about her private life. Still don't really, this packs in a lot over 2 hours. I would recommend it to fans of Delta or tv bio pics in general. Maybe a die hard Olivia fan would be annoyed she had no input into this, which is maybe why it's vague in parts.

Olivia was a true beauty - inside and out!

[elisa-grant · 6/10 · 10 August 2022]

Our beautiful Olivia just passed as I finally watched this. Despite being a life long fan of hers and really interested in this story, I knew Delta would be difficult to watch and... she was.

The actress who plays young Olivia is spot on and the ensemble cast are overall very good but Delta overacts (as she tends to do)

That said, reflecting on Olivia's life today has been a gift so I'm glad we have this for that reason so other favs may enjoy it for that reason alone.

She deserves so much better

[bgdl26 · 2/10 · 18 February 2019]

They literally crammed everything they possibly could into this biopic. They just jump from moment to moment in her career, each moments gets all of 2 minutes before they jump to the next one, and you get no real sense of who she is, how she became show she is, how all of this affected her. I would have much rather had a Netflix 10 episode series where you could really dig deep into Olivia. Really disappointing. She deserves so much better.

Delta cannot act.

[samhodgetts-40145 · 1/10 · 18 July 2018]

When will she and Australia accept that Delta can't act. Also, knowing this whole thing was made without the consent of Olivia is just gross. Steer clear.

It's not that.

[kraftwerk32 · 5/10 · 22 May 2018]

Kinda surprised at the hostile reception of this. It is cheesy, but OK for TV I think. It does not have the sex, drugs and rock'n'roll tales of other biopics, but seriously, who thinks the Olivia Newton-John ever indulged in any of these?

Watch if you love Olivia💛

[MsMeechell90 · 8/10 · 18 February 2019]

I feel like a lot of people are so quick to criticize works of are so easily. This is a good bio pic of Olivia. First off the sing was great which is a huge accomplishment for a TV bio pic. And the actress who played Olivia did awesome. You can't really set Hollywood Blockbuster standards for a TV movie. All in all it's a good movie to watch if love Olivia and want to see/learn her story. After all this is a movie she approved.

Poorly executed

[cglysingjensen · 4/10 · 18 February 2019]

Only kept watching out of love for Olivia. Many of the characters were not introduced, and the viewer is left trying to figure out who they are. Hoped for so much more.

If you love Olivia then don't waste your time with this crap

[sheepgrazing · 1/10 · 18 June 2018]

I grew up loving Olivia and I was so disappointed with this mini-series. Delta was absolute garbage, so so needy all the time and so tragic. She just looked skanky instead of wholesome like the Olivia we all knew and loved. The young girl who played young Olivia did a great job, but we lost all interest once Delta took over the roll. Save yourself the agony of watching Delta and just watch Olivia's original movies.

Follows same formula as other recent bio pics like Hoges.

[Sleeper-Cell · 1/10 · 21 May 2018]

Olivia seems to follow other recent bio pics like Hoges. We watch re-enactments of well known films like Grease. Wouldn't it be better to just watch the real Olivia in Grease?

Pretty bad...

[thetropolispage · 1/10 · 22 February 2019]

Big fan of ONJ. This was not good. Bad casting. The girl who played the young version of her was ok. Older one was aweful and looked all wrong. Very pretty girl but not right for the part. Not convincing at all and not a good actor. Badly written movie. Just junkie all the way around. Still love Olivia though.

Olivia Newton John and family

[phebert-76848 · 10/10 · 18 August 2022]

Olivia Newton John was a great person and a great actress and singer. I loved watching her in Grease. Olivia Newton John is one beautiful and charming lady. My thoughts and prayers are with her family. Rest in peace Olivia Newton John.

Mediocre at best

[devacom-1 · 1/10 · 11 August 2022]

Immediately following Olivia's passing, an Australian commercial TV station seized on the opportunity to pay tribute, or rather cynically sell some advertising by screening this.

I caught some moments of it and have to agree that this was very poor.

Delta Goodrem was 'hopelessly' mis-cast. She's an attractive blonde singer/actress just as Olivia was but that is where any similarity ends. An Australian audience especially would never get past the fact that they're watching Delta Goodrem. Delta can sing, but in the renditions I saw she totally failed to emulate the engaging and immersive style of Newton-John.

Other characters were clumsily introduced with their names telegraphed. At times Delta may have well have turned to camera and said something like "Viewers, this is Bruce Welch!"

Most of the hair budget must have been spent on Delta, leaving little for anyone else, especially Lee Kramer whose hair (wig?) looked like it had been borrowed from Wayne's World's Garth and put through a wash cycle with an extra spin dry.

Bad casting

[eljefe320 · 4/10 · 19 February 2019]

The woman who played young Olivia was great and looked the part. Very pretty. Whoever the one was who took over as grown Olivia was just not attractive enough to be believable in the role. Olivia was gorgeous, this one, not so much.

can't give it a zero

[donnavanbregt · 1/10 · 28 April 2019]

Watching the trailer was enough to turn me off of watching this. What a disservice to Olivia, who is truly an icon, so talented and a lovely person and I didn't get even a hint of that in the trailer. Please don't waste your time.

Not quite

[ranee_c · 3/10 · 10 August 2022]

What a waste of an opportunity to tell the story of Olivia Newton John! Felt too rushed and While Delta can certainly sing, I think they could of made a better effort to make her resemble Olivia a bit more. Other than the movie set costumes ( grease) where she actually looked the part , they had Delta in pretty much the same blow out hairstyle throughout the 80s/90s eras so did not look convincing, which didn't help her weak acting.

Loved it. Love delta

[joshua-pokemon-quinlan · 10/10 · 22 May 2018]

Loved it. Delta was simply amazing as Olivia and her vocals to are amazing.

Great work

Horrendously bad

[alexcanton-844-12413 · 1/10 · 8 July 2020]

The acting, the writing, the cinematography is absolutely woeful.