A disappointment

Rating: 6/10 (9 October 2007)

Tonight there was a free preview screening at the Jerusalem Cinematheque, as a part of a children's foundation benefit. I think I'm the first to vote and comment on it, and I honestly wish I could give this film any more but six.
Unfortunately, and despite the big production, the film is full of clichés and stereotypes, I was wondering how actors could get through this dialog with a straight face. True, a few cross-cultural references, such as "Run, August, run" make you laugh, but mostly I found myself laughing at how predictable - and unrealistic! - some scenes were.
Knowing a thing or two about music myself, I can say that if this is what they want you to believe about what a musical prodigy, who never read notes or picked an instrument, can achieve in one day, then the authors' notions about love and relationships are as believable, or worse.
Not recommended to any Robin Williams fans out there either. He plays a mean Fagin-like bastard of a character, which is probably a stretch any actor would love, but not such a great pleasure to watch, especially given his earlier filmography. Jonathan Rhys Meyers is b-e-a-utiful though, a cross between young Malcolm McDowell and, say, Johnny Depp. His upper lip alone is worth enduring most of the movie's clichéd messages :) Yes, and I loved the gospel band (do Harlem churches have real organs though? I don't think so).