Incredibly entertaining with a touching message

Rating: 9/10 (3 December 2016)

I had heard a lot of buzz revolving around John Carney's Sing Street, with many calling it one of the best movies of 2016. I decided to check it out on Netflix and I can guarantee it's spot among my favorites of 2016.
Sing Street is so delightfully enjoyable that one would have to try to dislike it, and trust me, I tried. As the film started off with many clichés fired off in rapid succession, I quickly began to doubt the film's ability to show me anything new. But just as quickly as I began to doubt it, Sing Street swept me up and showed me a simple story with an incredibly meaningful message.
The thing with Sing Street is that it proves that a film doesn't need to be original to be enjoyable. There is very little here that we haven't seen before, but it was so colorful and charming that it didn't really matter. As I say, clichés are only bad when done poorly and Sing Street proves that perfectly.
The acting within this movie is so grounded and realistic that I completely believed all the emotions showcased by our characters. They share such excellent chemistry that I honestly wouldn't be surprised if these actors were friends for years before the filming. And the character of Eamon is one the most unintentionally cool movie characters I have ever seen.
While the story is simple, it has a surprising amount of layers and depth. While at first we think we're just watching a teenage boy's love for an girl unfold, I quickly realized that it is more of a story between the brothers. This story of brotherhood within the film is absolutely excellent. Sometimes hilarious, sometimes heartbreaking, but always touching. The story developed in paths that I never would have expected it too, adding much more depth and meaning to a seemingly "cliche" story line.
It is also important to mention that the music for Sing Street is absolutely phenomenal. The songs created by this group of rag-tag teens are perfectly reflected as a juvenile Duran Duran. This is really the first film that I've ever wanted the soundtrack to. The film's main song, Rhythm of the Model, is incredibly addictive and very catchy. The music alone is reason enough to watch Sing Street.
It's not all happiness and rock-and-roll though, as there were some aspects to Sing Street that I found very strange and quite wrong.
Firstly, some of the characters within the story, particularly some of the band members, are grossly underdeveloped. More than half of the band that we follow are just background characters. The few scenes that they did run were really fun, which makes it even more disappointing that we never got any depth to them. The situation involving the band's only black member is even kind of offensive. The main characters invite him to join because he is the only black guy at their school. While this was lighthearted and meant to be funny, this character is completely ignored within the story and this joke that the kids make ends up accurately describing his real role in the film.
The ending felt incredibly out of place as well. Our main character has his heart broken by his boyfriend in a big twist, but shortly after this heartbreaking event, they are back together and acting as if none of it even happened. I enjoy a happy ending, but when the characters just completely ignore a massive plot development that left both of them emotionally wrecked, it feels totally wrong. It's almost as if this plot development was added in to pad run-time. It is never acknowledged after the fact, so what was the point of it even happening? This upset me quite a bit, but not enough to drastically change my enjoyment of the film.
Despite some issues, Sing Street is a delightful, fun and totally charming movie. It had me completely hooked in all the way through and I experienced many different emotions throughout. From pure joy to on the verge of tears, Sing Street masterfully tells a story that we've heard and enjoyed many times before. There was a sense of predictability, but the film itself never failed to make me smile and giggle with joy. The incredibly rich and unexpected commentary on brotherly relationships adds entire new shades of meaning to an already wholehearted film.