Living for many years with a mother who was versed in everything Frank Sinatra, from his music, his movies, right down to his personal life, I think I can judge “Sinatra” from the point of view of a fan. And as it currently seems from down here, Sinatra was squeaky clean. Which is a bold faced lie. Anyone who knows the life and tribulations behind Frank Sinatra, would know that the man wasn’t a very good guy, in spite of his brilliance as a singer and vocalist. And sadly, “Sinatra” is made by people who love him and refuse to go with the man. Instead, they write about the myth. This is a love portrayal of Sinatra, with only mild bits and pieces of his sordid affairs and mob ties, and I think it was possible to show Sinatra the man and the artist who rose above that garbage.

But “Sinatra” is just a very forgettable and pretty terrible television mini-series with some really bad performances by actors who coast through a movie that goes through the motions of the standard music bio-pic. Sinatra the kid is a wide eyed little rapscallion who gets an audience of people to be enamored by his lip-synched singing, and defies his parents. Then there’s the whiny moany man who wants to prove to his parents that he’s going to be big someday. For a movie that’s a little over three hours, there’s very little reason why he wants to break free from life as a working man. We’re just supposed to know that he’s destined for big things and nothing else. For an outsider and as a story, it’s pretty awful reasoning and adds nothing to the character of Sinatra, in spite of the writer’s best efforts.

“Sinatra” has a slew of clichés and cheesy one-liners like “You’re Dreaming Kid,” and “You’ll never amount to anything!” Gina Gershon is mediocre as Nancy Sinatra, while Olympia Dukakis is an Italian cliché for most of the time she’s on-screen bitching about Frank. Phillip Casnoff’s performance is average at best. The man possesses none of the same charisma and charm that Sinatra did, and is merely just mimicking the man, and nothing else for three hours. Sinatra here is a hopeless romantic, a man who was just troubled, and really nothing more. And the movie offers nothing to fans or newcomers beyond the basic glossy portrait of a man with much more depth, and back story than this movie lets on. It’s far from an effective movie, and farther more from an effective mini-series because when all is said and done, I’d really rather watch a documentary.

Mediocre as piss, "Sinatra" is a pretty forgettable mini-series with mediocre performances, clichés all over the board, and a story of the legend that prefers to omit the whole range of details of Frank Sinatra's life. The DVD, however, is pretty great for anyone who is a fan of the movie.