Believe it: Biopic uneven but heartfelt

Say what you want about "American Idol," but if it helped make Fantasia Barrino's dreams come true, then hey, it can't be all bad.

Still, one of the best things about the two-hour TV biopic "The Fantasia Barrino Story: Life Is Not a Fairy Tale" is that it doesn't focus so much on the 2004 "Idol" winner's Hollywood experience -- that stuff mostly comes toward the very end. Instead, director Debbie Allen pays respect to Barrino's High Point upbringing, balancing the good times (family, friends, the church and its music) and the hard times (low self-esteem, rape and an unplanned teen pregnancy).

The cast and writers evoke the richness of extended-family relationships in a small working-class community, and the dialogue is particularly strong. But Allen can't resist ramping up the melodrama past the pain level, and some of the family scenes suffer from histrionics that unintentionally echo Chris Rock's old "Proud Pattersons" black theater parody from "Saturday Night Live."

Allen also could have left out heavy-handed inspirational speeches, such as when the rare nice guy in Fantasia's life tells her after her "American Idol" win: "You make us believe in good and right -- taking second chances."

Barrino's supporting cast is consistently good. When they're not in that pain level mode, Loretta Devine and Kadeem Harrison are standouts as Barrino's preacher grandma, Addie Collins, and musician father JoJo Barrino. Big-voiced belter Jamia Simone Nash as preteen Fantasia is simply amazing.

Barrino's acting performance is erratic -- oddly blissed-out one moment, convincingly natural or intense the next. It's no surprise that the best thing she does onscreen is sing.

Even with its flaws, the movie, like its star, has a lot of heart. And all the justification for even making the film comes in the opening, an "Idol" clip of Barrino putting her stamp on Aretha's "Chain of Fools." Try naming one other "Idol" contestant who can truly get away with taking on an Aretha song. Katharine McPhee? Oh, please.