In 2013, pop music artist Robin Thicke released a massive hit song alongside music producer Pharrell called “Blurred Lines.” The song became almost iconic, but it also instantly became infamous. Robin Thicke was accused of stealing the tune to Marvin Gaye’s “Gotta Give it Up” by Gaye’s family estate. Despite their initial denial, Robin Thicke and Williams were taken to court and forced testify, leading to a startling musical precedent that also ruined Robin Thicke’s career momentum.
Director-Writer Corry Raymond’s “Blurred Lines” is one of the most scathing indictments of one of the more controversial pop artists of the early aughts. No one ever accused Robin Thicke of being talented, but he had charisma, which sent him on a trajectory in to iconic status. The hoopla with his still widely debated theft of “Gotta Give it Up” did not help him, and director Raymond deep down seems to understand how both men were victims and culprits in the long run. “Blurred Lines” portrays artist Robin Thicke (played beautifully by Ryan Brown) as a complete sham and something of a patsy who would say whatever he could to get himself out of this trouble.
Meanwhile Williams (played with strong moral tones of gray by Jonathan Taylor) is portrayed as someone who completely threw Robin Thicke under the bus, refusing to go to bat for him or his own work. Taken from a lot of the written testimony, “Blurred Lines” is such a fascinating short dramatization that could have easily been transformed in to a wonderful film in the vein of “The Social Network.” Where does the tribute end and plagiarizing begin? Was Robin Thicke completely aware of his plagiarism? Did Pharrell somehow trick him to make the song, convinced they were just making music?
There’s so much to be taken away from the testimony here, and director Raymond really leaves it all on the table for the audience to mull over. The “Blurred Lines” lawsuit is an incident deserving of a feature, and Corry Raymond lays the groundwork without flaw.