Wow, what a surprise this one is!

Rating: 8/10 (25 August 2000)

I first viewed the trailer for this movie back in May in front of Mission Impossible II. And I must admit, my buddies and I were part of the huge public that figured this is going to be a great T & A movie. Well, we were right; however David McNally went and snuck in a great, yes great, story. At first it may sound like just another small town girl moves to big town in hopes of making it big. And you're right, but this isn't just that, it's laced full of great acting by Piper Perabo, Maria Bello, and the great John Goodman. Violet Sanford (Perabo) wants to be a song writer and saves all her money, from working at the local pizza place, to move to New York City. Naturally her dad, William Sanford (Goodman), doesn't want her to go. She inevitably moves out, and into a run down apartment in "The City."
There she encounters every problem imaginable trying to get her songs heard by music execs. She meets Kevin O'Donnell (Adam Garcia), who at first lies to her and says that he can get her tape heard, but finally gets found out. Instead of getting hurt, Violet begins to fall in love with Kevin. When all desperation is coming to an end, Violet meets a manager of a bar, Lil (Bello), and "auditions" to work for her in the bar. As the preview shows, this is not your regular corner bar. Violet, now "Jersey", has a horrible first night, but sticks with it, and by the movies end, is the best one at the bar. The movie does have a few sappy scenes, and I actually did get a little choked up at one particular scene with Violet, and her dad, but all in all this is a "feel good" movie. That's not to say that there is nothing wrong with the movie though. I think, being a mere 91 minutes long, that it is a bit short, and probably could have gone into Violet's childhood a little. And I didn't feel anything for the love interest in Violet's life. I didn't care for the choice of Adam Garcia for this role. This movie definitely has a great deal of T & A, a wet T-shirt scene come to mind, but it's much more then that. Please trust me when I say that this is a MUST SEE movie.