R. Kelly’s “Trapped in the Closet.”

Despite sending the depressing overall message that “everybody cheats,” R. Kelly’s hip-hop opera – hip-hopera, if you will – titled “Trapped in the Closet,” redeems itself by providing bored college students with yet another excuse to drink 40 or more ounces of beer over the course of a movie. The term “movie” is used loosely here, since “Trapped in the Closet” seems to be part music video, part soap opera and part radio show.

R. Kelly not only sings every piece of dialogue, but also narrates and sings stage cues and scenery descriptions.

In retrospect, and after downing 40 ounces of Miller Lite while playing the adjoining drinking game my friend Colin and I created, “Trapped in the Closet” seems to be a comedy. Cheating runs rampant, yet it is so incredibly twisted and absurd it comes across as comical. Also, thanks to the descriptive lyrics through which R. Kelly sings the story, one cannot help but laugh uncontrollably.

As though a movie about everybody cheating on everybody else in the most tangled and bizarre romantic web imaginable (and all of them finding out about it on the same day) wasn’t enough, Mr. Kelly decided to up the ante by playing every wild card in the deck.

It would ruin the movie to tell you what all comes out of the closet, both figuratively and literally, throughout the film – but do trust me, “Trapped in the Closet” is never quite what you would expect.

As a legitimate piece of creative musical melodrama, this film is a joke, but as a comedy and fodder for a drinking game, “Trapped in the Closet” succeeds with flying colors. Even if you watch the movie and hate it, just remember: it’s better to watch an R. Kelly movie than to be in one, especially if he’s peeing on you.