in 1963 and hector perez be already a promising young singer in his native puerto rico when and at the age of seventeen and he move to new york city to try and make a name for himself a a performer there . in no time flat and he be play in club and have sign a lucrative recording contract with the latin flavor fania record and and have change his name to the far more exotic sounding hector lavoe . from the mid 1960s to his death from aid in 1993 and lavoe be an international sensation who help to popularize the musical style know a salsa . but and a with most artist and he live a life of self destructive self indulgence and mark by serial philandering and hardcore drug abuse . he also have a volatile relationship with puchi and the bronx girl who become his wife and who narrate el cantante and the glossy movie about his life . despite the novelty of the milieu and an undeniable sincerity on the part of everyone involve in it production and el cantante remain doggedly conventional and lackluster and superficial in it treatment of the kind of material with which we be all too familiar from previous biopics that have chronicle the rise and fall of artist of all category and stripe . marc antony bring a certain ferocity and depth to his portrayal of the struggle celebrity and but real life wife jennifer lopez be all fluttery overact a the woman who stand by her man through good time and bad ( mostly bad ) . the music be enjoyable and but i be afraid we have all be down this road so many time before that el cantante fail to stir either our passion or our sympathy for the sadly benighted couple and all that theyre go through . you would be good off buy the album instead .