Milli Vanilli review: 'the biggest fraud in pop history'

Feature documentary on Paramount+ skilfully blends the tragic and the comic

Milli Vanilli duo Rob Pilatus and Fabrice Morvan in 1988
Rob Pilatus and Fabrice Morvan in 1988
(Image credit: Michael Putland/Getty Images)

"If you remember Milli Vanilli at all," said Anita Singh in The Daily Telegraph, "it will be for their ignominious end." They were the French-German R&B duo (Rob Pilatus and Fabrice Morvan) who had a run of hits at the end of the 1980s, before causing a sensation when they were forced to admit that they'd not sung on any of their own records. They became the first act ever to have their Grammy revoked, and went down in history as frauds – but do they deserve their reputation? 

"Milli Vanilli", a new feature-length documentary on Paramount+, uses talking heads and archival material to argue that the "hatred and blame" that were piled on Morvan and Pilatus (who died of an overdose in 1998) should have been directed at Frank Farian, the producer who masterminded the hoax. Ridiculous though Milli Vanilli may seem now, with their "bandannas and shoulder pads", the pair come across as deeply sympathetic, in a film that skilfully blends the tragic and the comic. 

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