I Revisited Trapped In The Closet For The First Time In Nearly 20 Years, And Oh My God, What Did I Just Watch?

A few weeks ago, my friends and I were telling our wives about Trapped in the Closet, R. Kelly’s wild musical soap opera that starts with a guy stuck in a closet while his lover’s husband comes home which just gets crazier from there. After spending way too much time trying to explain that between writing a song for one of the best movie soundtracks of all time and being sent to prison for sex trafficking, R. Kelly released a bonkers hip-hopera, we decided to just put it on and let them see it for themselves.

Though I remembered some of the initial 12-part series (there are a total of 33 chapters), I forgot just how absurdly ridiculous it was. Between a preacher cheating on his wife who is cheating on him with her best friend’s husband, the late Michael K. Williams playing a Chicago cop, and guns being pulled out all willy-nilly, there was a lot to take in. And that night, as I was going to bed, I just kept thinking, “What in the hell did I just watch?”

I Remember R. Kelly's Trapped In The Closet Being A Big Thing, But I Completely Forgot How Absurd It Is

When Trapped in the Closet first came out, and was then released again throughout the latter part of the 2000s (when it was on BET, VH1, and MTV all the time) R. Kelly’s musical was a big deal. I mean, it was before all those sexual assault allegations broke and after the R&B singer put out hit after hit after hit, so a lot of people watched. And while I did have some recollection of its contents, I completely forgot how crazy it was.

The story is one thing, but the production is off-the-wall wild, especially whenever Kelly’s character, Sylvester (not to be confused with the narrator character that fades in and out throughout the saga), is driving from house to house trying to get to the bottom of the increasingly complex storyline. Though cheesy, it had a certain charm that took me back to my high school days, which made the whole experience even crazier.

Seriously, Each Subsequent Chapter Gets Wilder And Wilder

I don’t want to go and ruin Trapped in the Closet for those who have somehow avoided this tour de force the past 20 years, but just know that if you think one episode is wild, just wait until the next. Seriously, each chapter gets crazier and crazier, so much so that it wouldn’t be the worst idea to keep a chart breaking down all the different relationships and scenarios so you don’t get lost. And the teases. Oh my god, they’re like those MCU end-credit scenes, but instead of teasing a new villain, they tease a new character who is somehow connected to everyone.

Despite The Cheesiness And Absurdity, I Kept Watching Even After The First 12-Part Run

Going into the Trapped in the Closet, I knew it was going to be a cheesy and absurd experience. I mean, the Weird Al Yankovic parody, “Trapped in the Drive-Thru,” doesn’t come close to matching the ridiculousness of the whole spectacle, and that’s a joke song. Despite this, I kept watching Kelly’s twist-and-turn-filled opera through the first 12-chapter run and into the next phase of the saga. I had to stop around 16 episodes in to go home, but I could have kept going through the whole 33-chapter story.

And I Have To Admit, Trapped In The Closest Is Still Wildly Entertaining In 2025

I have to admit, Trapped in the Closet is still wildly entertaining in 2025, and spending a couple of hours watching a man get caught up in all these increasingly chaotic and hard-to-believe situations was some of the most fun I’ve had recently. If you’re looking for a fun, cheesy, outrageous way to spend a few hours, it’s not too hard to find copies of R. Kelly’s epic online. And, it’s likely nothing from the 2025 TV schedule will come close to matching what I consider a masterpiece.

All in all, revisiting Trapped in the Closet with a group of friends (several of whom had never seen it before) after all these years is something I won’t forget for a very long time.