It's about the journey, not the destination

Rating: 8/10 (17 December 2014)

It's about the journey, not the destination. Hard to explain why this movie works, other than that. It appears to be a rambling, pointless film. However, the rambling, almost-cyclical, quite depressing in a way, story has many charms.
It is the story of an almost-famous everyman, his trials and tribulations, the almost irrecoverable rut he is in. Fill those adventures with the Coen brothers usual mixture of quirky characters, humour, symbolism, red herrings and character depth, and you have a very engaging story.
Great performance by Oscar Isaac in the lead role. Good supporting cast too. Probably the most surprising performance is by Justin Timberlake. Yes, we already knew he could act, but here he is hardly recognisable as an early-60s folk singer. Solid performance.
On the subject of musicians, the music is one of the highlights of the movie. Some great tracks, some written just for the movie. Helps if you like early-Bob Dylan/Steeleye Span/Fairport Convention- style folk (and I do), but it is very well done.
Subtler than your average Coen brothers movie, but well worth the watch.