AnhartLinkin This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

BelSports This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Humaira Grant It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Zlatica One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Roland E. Zwick In 1963, Hector Perez was already a promising young singer in his native Puerto Rico when, at the age of seventeen, he moved to New York City to try and make a name for himself as a performer there. In no time flat, he was playing in clubs, had signed a lucrative recording contract with the Latin-flavored Fania Records, and had changed his name to the far more exotic-sounding Hector Lavoe. From the mid-1960s to his death from AIDS in 1993, Lavoe was an international sensation who helped to popularize the musical style known as "Salsa." But, as with most artists, he lived a life of self-destructive self-indulgence, marked by serial philandering and hardcore drug abuse. He also had a volatile relationship with "Puchi," the Bronx girl who became his wife and who narrates "El Cantante," the glossy movie about his life.Despite the novelty of the milieu and an undeniable sincerity on the part of everyone involved in its production, "El Cantante" remains doggedly conventional, lackluster and superficial in its treatment of the kind of material with which we are all too familiar from previous biopics that have chronicled the rise and fall of artists of all categories and stripes. Marc Antony brings a certain ferocity and depth to his portrayal of the struggling celebrity, but real-life wife Jennifer Lopez is all fluttery overacting as the woman who stood by her man through good times and bad (mostly bad). The music is enjoyable, but I'm afraid we've all been down this road so many times before that "El Cantante" fails to stir either our passions or our sympathy for the sadly benighted couple and all that they're going through. You'd be better off buying the albums instead.

TxMike "El Cantante" is "the singer." Marc Anthony is Hector Lavoe, originally Perez, who came to New York from Puerto Rico at age 17. When he started to sing professionally his agents gave him the name Lavoe, which is supposed to mean "the voice" in French, because Perez was too common. I have never been a fan of Salsa music and I never heard of Lavoe, but he apparently was a hit artist in that musical genre in the 60s through the 80s. Marc Anthony, a wonderful singer in his own right, did all his own singing in the movie.Jennifer Lopez, Marc Anthony's wife in real life, is Puchi who becomes Lavoe's wife. Andrea Navedo is Puchi's sister. John Ortiz is Willie Colón. According to the story in the movie, Lavoe and Colon combine their talents and different backgrounds to come up with "salsa" for their music, because salsa is a mix of things. However, my search of the history of salsa does not attribute its beginnings to them.Lavoe led a troubled life, losing his mother, then his brother, when he was still young. In his relationship with Puchi he was abusive often. Sadly he got heavily into alcohol and drugs, which caused his both professional difficulties and health difficulties. He died of aids (presumably from drug use and sharing needles) before he was 50.The movie is not a particularly good one. It is shot in a grainy, unattractive style, and it is pretty tedious sitting through the whole 2 hours of it. I would have liked the 30 minute version of the movie. Still, I am a fan of both Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony, and I enjoyed seeing them. Too bad they didn't have a better script to work with.

highwaythunder I understand many of the folks comments. We must all keep in mind that the movie was based on the interview conducted with Puchi his wife. She was bitter and and upset at him for the drug use, the deceit and the sickness that they both shared. She should had kept in mind that she in some aspect did introduce him to the drug scene. The movie did shine a certain negative spotlight on Hector. The people that never heard of him or knew about him will portray him as being a loser. This movie does nothing for those that never knew about him or heard of him. However the true fans and the ones that do respect and love his music it was a joyous reminiscence. I grew up loving his music and displayed his albums with pride. He was my stepping stone for the love that I have for the Salsa music today. He was the pioneer and one of the major factors in putting Salsa on the map. i would've preferred to sit down and watch a more positive movie on his life. However It takes nothing away on the joy and excitement that i felt to hear his music on the big screen. May he rest in peace and his memories will remain bright through his fans and admirers such as myself.

jat1961 First, I have been an Hector Lavoe fan since early 70's and as a puertorican I agree with a lot of our artists that this movie is simply awful. The acting is subpar, the editing worse and the story was a bit biased. We all thought that this production was going to do justice to the life and achievements of Lavoe. Instead it is an embarrassing account of the negative aspect of Hector's life. Yes he did drugs, yes he had many trying times, but he also left a musical legacy that many of today's Salsa singers (Marc Anthony included) can't and never will achieve. This was a chance to celebrate the artist and his contributions along with Willie Colon to our popular music. Instead we have all the dark aspects that clouded his life and show old Salsa artists to be a bunch of "junkies" and bums. Also, you can clearly notice that this is a "Jennifer Lopez production" since a lot of the "actors" in the movie are blood relatives of J-Lo. This is a low blow for these artists and I can believe Jenny to ride Marc's fame as much as she can since she can't sell a movie by herself, much less a singing career. I was very disappointed in Marc and as a puertorican I can say that ever since he got together with J-Lo he has lost a lot of ground with us puertoricans and this travesty of a movie clearly shows it. You really need to know the real story here if you want to comment on this "movie". All I saw was J-Lo's face and big "rump" more times than the actual main character of the movie. I counted about forty-something appearances from Marc and over 200 by J-Lo. Way to go girl, keep riding the bronco until it drops.