Just superb.

Rating: 10/10 (4 January 2017)

Had heard so many good things about this and had really wanted to see it but it didn't come to my local world of cine so I missed out during its theatrical run and one thing or another had made me not catch up later, but I was determined to see it before the year was out as I thought it might be one of my favourite films, and I was right. I had really enjoyed Begin Again and Once was one of my favourite films when I saw it so I am a fan of director Carney's work and in this he's right back up to Once's standards. I was enjoying it from the start, helped by the 1980's setting which was when I was in senior school just like the protagonists and which the film perfectly portrays, but was not blown away. But as it progressed it just crept into my being, filling me up with its energy, heart, sole and most of all its music and the joy and exuberance of its creators. The young cast here shine, from our hero, to his bully nemesis, taking in along the way the heroes dream girl, his band of misfits, and the worlds ultimate big brother. Sure, for a group of school kids they are unrealistically good at writing and performing their various pastiches of several 80's pop styles, but the songs are incredibly catchy and the homemade videos they create for them are very funny and perfectly of the era. If you don't leave this film with a song in your heart and a smile on your face, then your dead inside.