Basic plot but quite entertaining

Rating: 7/10 (11 February 2017)

Dublin, 1985. 15-year old Conor has just moved to a new school and, between the inane rules, fascist teacher-priests and bullies, it is a daunting place. He meets a beautiful girl, Raphina, and is immediately smitten by her. To get to see her he says he is in a band and they need a model for a music video, and would she be interested? She agrees. Only problem - he doesn't have a band. He hastily forms one and the creativity starts to flow...
Pretty basic plot. The whole set up with Conor and Raphina is quite contrived. There is no background, limited scene setting and them meeting even seems like a non-event it is so low-key. This is not helped by the fact that she looks (and in real life, is) about 5 years older than him, rather than the one year mentioned in the movie. Made the whole romance seem implausible from the start.
The plot develops in a similar vein, with a few contrivances and implausibilities along the way. Ultimately it is fairly trite and predictable.
However, while lacking in substance, the movie is still very entertaining. While predictable, the plot is quite fun and there are some good comedic moments. The music is good, giving the movie great momentum, and the characters are reasonably engaging.
Add to this some solid performances and, though not brilliant, Sing Street is still pretty good and never dull.