Stupid and Improbable story.

Rating: 4/10 (20 June 2015)

Well acted? Sure. Decent directing and production values- yep! Plausible or realistic storyline? Not at all. There is no Shaffer Conservatory. Berklee College of Music in Boston used to be heavy on big-band jazz, but now the school has become far more vocational. None of the conservatory's I am aware of feature jazz as a curriculum, and if they did, it certainly would not be a major. No music professor in the USA would have a job if they behaved the way Fletcher does, and more to the point, no JAZZER would ever behave this way under any circumstances. Jazzers are not confrontational or competitive, that would contradict everything they stand for. The way the other musician behaved and talked in this film is not even remotely accurate AT ALL. Real musicians in REAL life, ESPECIALLY JAZZERS, are brotherly. A professor would never come into another professor's class and take over, would never physically abuse a student or yell at them this way ( with intense profanity, humiliation, and gender-insensitivity). A teacher wouldn't come in and insult the entire ensemble EVER. They would never audition them in the manner Fletcher does. They would never focus so much on the drummer, nor would they put so much emphasis on a stupid and pointless competition. The JVC Jazz festival, like any other jazz festival, does not have label-people attending to scout for new talent like baseball scouts. Labels are overrun with demo tapes and web links to downloads, and his remark that if you screw up they will remember you for the expressed purpose of denying you a deal is absolutely inane.I have NEVER seen a drummer get bloody hands just from playing fast: a stick only weighs about 2 ounces and is very smooth. Oh BTW, drummers never share sticks. Sticks are very personal, and ALL drummers, in a music program, carry a stick bag with them like a woman carries a purse. I have never seen "alternate" drummers in an ensemble or page turners for drummer. Big-band rehearsals at 9AM? Are they joking? You'd never get that many musicians to be at class that early and behave like soldiers in bootcamp, NO WAY! Are we to believe that Andrew get tossed from school, before Fletcher, because he messed up playing a song in a competition? Seriously? Even though he was bloody from a car accident? Maybe if this imaginary tale took place in hell, it would have slightly more credibility. Hollyweird NEVER portrays musicians accurately in a feature film. This is not a powerful movie, it doesn't make a point or carry any type of profound message and it doesn't portray musicians or music-schools with an accuracy at all. Im sure its fooled a lot of lay-people.