She was better than you thought she'd be, but still not great. Of the four, she is basically tied with Joe Torrey in 3rd place, as far as performances gobehind Regina King and Tupac.
But, again, she pulled it off better than I expected her to.

I saw this years ago and just saw it again today. Foremost on my mind after finishing it was that Janet Jackson was miscast. All that came through was trying too hard to be from the hood. I liked it more years ago when I first saw it. I guess I was able to see through the performance more easily without it being as fresh.
Tha Hot Girlz THE99 And 4 Eva!

She was spectacular in this, to be honest.

the latter is true but she was certainly not fading in 1993. between this and the Janet. album which exploded aroudn this time she was still at her peak
I wondered that too! I remember first reading people say that Janet was fadingand how was she fading? 'janet' was huge!!
But I don't recall if that came out before or after this film.
"I'd say this cloud is Cumulo Nimbus."
"Didn't he discover America?"
"Penfold, shush."

I think she doesn't get as much recognition for this role because she is more subdued than her co-stars. they have the more flamboyant characters and performances and a lot of justice stuff is pretty internal throughout the film. i thought she was good though and it's an underrated performance of hers. Definitely the best thing she has done as an actress.
btw someone said she was fading when she made this and tupac was a rising star. the latter is true but she was certainly not fading in 1993. between this and the Janet. album which exploded aroudn this time she was still at her peak

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Having seen all but one of Janet's movies, I think Justice is her best screen performance. The role was a good fit for her at the time and her approach was very earnest.

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Truth be told, they had little chemistry and were complete opposites off screen. Tupac was an up and coming star, and
janet was fading (particularly with the inception of hip hop and female stars in film)
. The AIDS test incident scared off many studios from hiring a "diva" for roles that would go to other, less egotistical and hungry talents.
She did an album to support Michael (since both were fading)
, but after this and the wardrobe malfunction, she is just a memory in the pop music world. Her marriage of convenience to Jermaine Dupree was also somewhat "staged". She had declining status as hip-hop began to merge with R&B and ultimately pop music.
Whoa I know this post is hella old but I don't care
So wrong about Janet during this time, '93-'96 is where she firmly cemented her place in music history. With
janet.
she set and broke so many music records at the time: she had the highest first week sales by any female artist, including a #1 single spending 8 weeks at the top, music videos & stage performances that would inspire a whole new generation of pop stars, supported this album with a mega successful world tour, and her song "Again" for this film was nom'd for an Oscar. (Her duet with Michael was in support of his Greasiest Hits album, there was no joint album.) I can understand not liking her in this film because, frankly, I wasn't impressed with her acting in
Poetic Justice
either she looked the part but didn't act it. But to say she was some fading pop star during that time is beyond ridiculous. Her influence is still very prevalent today, last name not even needed.

Truth be told, they had little chemistry and were complete opposites off screen. Tupac was an up and coming star, and janet was fading (particularly with the inception of hip hop and female stars in film). The AIDS test incident scared off many studios from hiring a "diva" for roles that would go to other, less egotistical and hungry talents. She did an album to support Michael (since both were fading), but after this and the wardrobe malfunction, she is just a memory in the pop music world. Her marriage of convenience to Jermaine Dupree was also somewhat "staged". She had declining status as hip-hop began to merge with R&B and ultimately pop music.

I liked the dynamic between her and Tupac the most. But a year and a half after the movie was released Janet said that she wasn't satisfied with her performance in the movie.

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I agree I watched this movie again today and she did great. She played the character Justice real well. Hopefully she will keep getting acting jobs to come.

I loved Janet in this movie. I've gotta admit that it had to be tough for people to separate Janet the superstar with the character of Justice, but you can see how wonderful she is once you do. The mirror scene where she's crying says it all.
Don't
eva
let nobody tell you you ain't
strong enough

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Well, I think that Janet was GREAT in this movie. I think she was very believable. She had great chemistry with the cast. I loved the friendship/chemistry between Janet and Regina King. I also loved the chemistry between Janet and Tupac. I agree that Janet is very underrated. She is a great actress, and I hope to see her in more movies, especially in the lead role.

I think she did okay, keeping up with everyone else who act straight hood in and out of the set, especially Regina King and Tupac. There were times where she made me crack up laughing (her screaming and cussing with Tupac's character), and there
were times when I was like "What's wrong with her?" (the mirror scene where she ends up crying)
It's like this: Janet looked the part perfectly (very), but there were better actresses. The problem is that it's hard to pick a better choice, because, of course, Janet looked the part, and that her & Tupac looked like they had perfect chemistry together in the movie.
Nia Long was a great actress, and she still is, but I can't picture her as Justice.

you've gotta be kidding me haha."All you do is get drunk, All the time, that's why I never go anywhere with you, cuz u always actin crazy. Just like my damn mama" haha, great movie cept' her acting

I always remember watching Janet win the MTV Movie Award for Best Female for this (living in Britain I hadn't actually heard of the movie beforehand) and rented the film later to see what the fuss was about.
She was competent(given that she had acted before her singing career exploded I wasn't surprised at that) but I got the overall impression that she was awarded, and praised by some of her fanbase, for basically being Janet Jackson Megastar, which she pretty much was then, and not sucking completely.

I think she was real good in this movie. She did a lot better than most other singers turned actors.

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I thought Janet did well, but like others said she was somewhat "lacking" in that scene with Iesha's drinking. It looked so very forced.
I also thought Regina King tried way too hard to portray a streetwise girl. She did okay, but some of her scenes seem too over the top.
She controlled the animals of the forest even the trees seeming to do her bidding.

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I just watched this film and I too think she did a decent job. Especially the mirror scene-she showed a lot of emotion. However, the scene were she confronts Iesha about the drinking does leave something to be desired. And it was interesting to see janet jackson curse!