Hidden insight in a rom com shell

Rating: 8/10 (21 October 2016)

I almost didn't get to see this movie, missed it the first time round due to it's terrible name and marketing, and that would have been a loss to me because it's a thoroughly enjoyable and entertaining movie about the art and pleasure of creativity. There are some brilliantly insightful and well presented scenes in this movie that are to do with how creativity happens and they really click with people who do this stuff, which is a rarity in cheesy ripoff Hollywood who would rather sensationalise simplify and adapt for dramatic value every true story and experience out there. In particular the scene where Mark Ruffalo's character imagines the production of a raw song rings exceptionally and insightfully true. I loved it, and his delivery is fantastic for it, as he buzzes of each imagined part he introduces. I loved the concept they gave the album, The movie isn't perfect but the delivery manages to gloss over the cliché boardroom meetings and hip hop star for laughs bits, the credits ending bit raises a bunch of complex issues it has no hope of dealing with in the space of the credit roll, But the bristly character deliveries ring true, due to the improvised dialogue approach, and the music is really really good, much better than we should expect for a movie about making music rather than a fully fledged pop album. And the movie was fun, in a time when every other movie is dark and depressing. This wins on so many levels.