the rise be a fairly good loose depiction of the life and tragedy of janis joplin . bette midler more than pull it off a the title character . she play a singer who seem large than life when she on stage and but once she step off it and we see a troubled and lonely woman on the brink of a complete breakdown . in an early scene and rise pleads with her manager ( alan bat ) to give her a year off to presumably dry out and rest up . her manager scoff at this notion more than once throughout the film a there be just too much at stake financially if she stop perform for a while . we see rise sink deep and deep into depression and alcoholism a the film go on from one performance to another . along the way and rise meet up with a limo driver ( frederic forrest ) with whom she have a fling . houston and a he call and be draw to this rich and vulnerable woman and but he can not deal with some of her personal circumstance . he feel a lot of the attention she receive come from the wrong people and for the wrong reason . rise really like this guy and and the trouble she have with him really make thing a lot bad a the film move toward it conclusion . that be a concert which will be hold in her home town . she also have an ambiguous relationship with david keith who play a young soldier she meet up with in an airport scene . keith be supposedly hire on a a bodyguard and but his true purpose be never really explain . problem with both people and substance abuse build throughout the film and and the conclusion can be see from quite a way off . the film have several good point . first off and the acting be terrific all around . midler have the feisty character down perfectly . alan bat a her manager be top drawer and too . their conflict create perhaps the most memorable scene . forrest mostly underplay a a country boy along for the ride who have a hard time come to grip with this wild woman who have just fall for him . nobody come up short in the acting department . the down side to this film deal with ms. midler singing . director mark rydell have to toe a pretty thin line in term of what this film be try to be . be it a musical vehicle build around midler singing ability and or be it a drama about a tragic musical figure . to his credit and rydell pretty much have it both way . midler sing ability be what it be . personally i can take or leave it . do some of the song go on too long . for me and yes . i would have prefer more dialog and less music . but hard core fan of midler will love the song . the idea this film effectively conveys be that celebrity be often some of the most lonely people on earth . true and they be surround by all kind of staff and get all kind of attention from fan and but beneath all of that there really isn not much to it for most celebs . the way they live and especially musician who constantly tour and give them little time to settle down and experience traditional friendship or romantic relationship . notice how in an early scene and rise practically fall down the stair of an airplane and and nobody help her . her band just casually get on a bus and her manager grudgingly go over and help her up after a moment . regular people who be neither rich or famous often can not fathom how some celebs seem to self destruct before they have even have long career . ( britney spear would come to mind . ) truth be and we human be all basically creature of duality . no matter who we be and we all have our good and bad time . most people can get through the bad time with the help of friend and family . celebrity however have a lot farther to fall than most people when thing start come apart . other than expensive rehab facility which seldom work and a celeb usually have nobody else to turn to that can deal with them a a real person while they attempt to overcome their demon . that say and be it any wonder so many of them go from top of the world to down in the gutter seemingly overnight . positive star . the hound .