Summer music in the air

Rating: 7/10 (28 July 2014)

Quickie Review:
Dan (Mark Ruffalo), a record label executive is forced to quit his company after being unwilling to compromise on the integrity of the music he produced, for higher sales. Meanwhile, Gretta (Keira Knightley) is a young songwriter cheated on by her college sweetheart Dave (Adam Levine), who is consumed by his new rock-star status. Gretta and Dan meet each other by chance, and the two of them become partners to produce an album to the sounds of Manhattan. Begin Again is a charming little movie about redemption, friendship, and of course music. It is filled with likable characters, witty dialog, and is in the end an uplifting story. While I can't say the movie is original, the chemistry between Ruffalo and Knightley alone was enough to make me enjoy it overall.
Full Review:
The director of Begin Again, John Carney, had previously directed another music focused movie called Once, which I really loved. So for that reason, I was excited to see his latest work. While it doesn't live up to his previous film, Begin Again is still worth a watch.
The stand out performance for me is Mark Ruffalo. From the first scene it is obvious that his character Dan, is not exactly well put together. He is lazy, messy, an alcoholic, also he comes late to meetings and has damaged relationship with his daughter and separated wife. Yet it is his passion for music that shows that there is much more to this man. And he feels the same way about Gretta, that there is a talent that he sees in her that must be shown to the rest of the world. They find a kindred spirit in each other as they work together on the music album. An aspect I love about this movie, is that it is not a love story, or at least in the typical romantic movie sense. Carney could have taken the obvious easy route and just made this a romantic story of Dan and Gretta. Instead it focuses on all the other relationships the two leads have with the supporting cast. In that sense the way the story deals with love between characters is pleasantly charming and unique because it can't be easily labeled.
As it is music oriented, I should of course comment on that. Just like movies, music is very subjective, so I won't say that everyone will enjoy the music in this movie. I personally like indie rock so Begin Again soundtrack was a perfect fit for me. If it so happens that you don't enjoy such music, I can at least assure you that the actors involved have a good voice, of course Adam Levine is no surprise in that matter. I should mention though that Levine surprised me with his acting talent. He is no thespian, but he was very natural in his delivery, so props to him.
My main problem with this movie is that I feel like I have seen this all before. There is very little risk taken, and you know exactly what is going to happen. So it ends up being that the whole entertainment factor lands on the characters and the dialog. Thankfully, these two aspects is where Begin Again excels and saved the movie. If you are looking for a smart, charming, summer feel-good movie, this is the one for you.
Check out more on my movie review blog The Stub Collector: http://thestubcollector.wordpress.com/