Optimistic and well paced but rather standard.

Rating: 6/10 (19 July 2016)

Here is one film that is getting quite a bit of recognition straight out of Sundance. While it didn't come to many theaters, the general consensus is that it's pretty great. So, naturally, I went in with high expectations. However this film is unfortunately quite standard. It's about a young man who finds a girl that he likes. She tells him that she is a model, so to get her to notice him he says he is in a band and wants her to star in a music video. Of course he isn't actually in a band so he recruits some kids for said band and they start writing some songs. From here the film follows a pretty cut and paste love story formula. The only thing really new is the music.
Which was pretty great. The soundtrack in the film is one of the better ones that I have heard all year. With its main characters being in a band the music can not only accompany a scene but can interact with it. The lyrics in many of the songs are written by said main characters so they obviously directly correlate with what we are watching on screen. Then are the songs that just in the film to heighten a scene.
Those songs are pretty great as well. Another interesting aspect to the film is the cast. Most of which are all but unknown. And for the most part they do a pretty decent job. There are a few of them that struggle but thankfully those actors screen time is held to a minimum. But the ones that do a good job are all the more impressive because the amount of the different things they have to do.
They don't have to show a whole lot of range though, because this film is on the optimistic side. There aren't many moments of conflict in the film and that works for the most part. It keeps everything very upbeat and crowd pleasing. That being said, whenever it does try to introduce conflict or stakes it doesn't land very well. Which mainly encapsulates this movies entire B story.
The B story mainly follows our main characters struggles at home. Where his parents and brother are going through an existential crisis. This side story doesn't pop up all to much through the movie so when it does it feels oddly forced and cliché. It's nothing we haven't seen before and it doesn't do much to change that. This has mainly to do with all side characters being flat as a board.
There isn't anyone outside of the main few characters that are even remotely compelling. While this mainly affects the B story, the main story we have isn't really that great either. This doesn't have to do with the bland characters or it's abundance of optimism, it has to do with the overly familiar plotting. The whole, trying to impressive a girl with something your not story has been used hundreds of times over.
It's hard to call this movie good when it doesn't offer anything interesting with its story. Its characters are fairly bland, the story is overly familiar, and it doesn't have any conflict to really get you invested. But Its cast and soundtrack are good and there's a decent message embedded deep in there somewhere. While, I may not enjoy these types of feel good movies but if this kind of film appeals to you, you'll definitely have a good time with this one.