Enjoyable Musical Trip Down 80s Memory Lane

Rating: 8/10 (21 May 2016)

I went into this with "The Commitments" in mind, hoping it would be nearly as good, and it was. Not nearly as raw, gritty or with as much forward motion as its predecessor (my rating = 9), but an always interesting tale.
As a 80s child, this was a musical trip down memory lane coupled with a the enjoyment of being in on a budding musical career, even though it was fictional. The characters mostly all rang true, although some of the insights seemed a bit far fetched for teenagers.
There wasn't a whole lot of conflict throughout, so there were a few slow periods, but the film was nicely paced in total.
The heroine of the film reminded me of Ione Skye (where are you?), which added a feeling of 80s realism in addition to the wardrobes and music, and the red-headed kid reminded me of a fellow I knew in high school, so I kind of felt like I knew these characters.
Overall, a very enjoyable film with very few missteps and a hopeful ending that at that time and place in history (and in the film) actually seemed to make sense for the characters involved.