Shameless

Rating: 3/10 (27 November 2016)

Richard Dreyfuss, director Stephen Herek and screenwriter Patrick Sheane Duncan attempt to pull off a cinematic hat-trick with "Mr. Holland's Opus," yet this feat is impossible when none of them appears to know anything about music or high school music bands. Their film is pure sentiment, not existing as anything but a formula nosegay thanks to the built-in nostalgia factor and the 'emotional' score from Michael Kamen. Duncan's script is ostensibly about an indefatigable music teacher and his students, their scattered triumphs and lumpy relationships as seen through many years' time, though Herek turns the proceedings into a recycled lovefest. The picture is certainly well-produced, though the shameless, plastic-coated sincerity with which it was made is nearly enough to sink Dreyfuss' Oscar-nominated lead performance. *1/2 from ****