note : ordinarily , moviereviews .
org will not give away any critical plot points of a film that could be interpreted as " spoilers . " however , being that music of the heart is based on a true story and that moviereviews .
org feels the film can not be properly credited without such revelations , plot giveaways will appear in the following review .
if this bothers you , please note the 3 star rating of the film and stop reading now .
"
what does it take to play carnegie hall ?
practice .
"
it takes two hours for music of the heart to " play carnegie hall , " both figuratively and literally .
like the children it portrays , the movie starts from the dark realms of awful cinema and works its way up to a show - stopping performance at the legendary concert hall .
roberta guaspari ( academy award winner meryl streep ) has two kids , a husband who left her and 50 violins she bought from a small shop in the mediterranean .
her life desperately needs a jump start and gets one when she meets a man who introduces her to a job as a music teacher at an east harlem elementary school .
she soon finds her job is on the rocks as the men in her life continue to rotate through revolving doors .
that is the pattern - like plot of this production .
ultimately , the film chooses a zero - sum answer to these problems and finds her music career at an all - time high when the men in her life finally vanish .
the first hour of music of the heart is rather painful .
roberta 's character lacks development and consequently seems to be flat .
also lacking depth is the film 's " bad guy , " a narrow - minded music teacher ( josh pais ) who rejects roberta out of principle ( the movie never explains exactly which principle that is ) and conveniently comes and goes from the plot according to when it might be dramatic to have a villain around .
the next 15 minutes of the film are mediocre .
they are highlighted by one child 's return to roberta 's class ( coming after the great old hollywood scene where he explains be ca n't be around anymore because " my mom said . . . " ) and a glowing concert .
not knowing the running time , you may expect the credits to role at this point .
but they do n't .
instead the film uses the next 45 minutes to finish its journey from bad to mediocre to excellent .
director wes craven , known for his works of horror , uses some old sentimental tricks to get the audience tearing .
one romantic break up scene is highlighted by the classic
" but . . .
last night . . .
" and roberta 's two children also have textbook conflicts with their single mother regarding their father 's absence .
the city of harlem plays a strong role in the movie .
roberta 's mother is initially reluctant to see her daughter move to that part of town and the film does nothing to combat that stereotype .
the noise tracks for these scenes are dominated by sirens ; predictably one of roberta 's students is gunned down and killed off screen .
one thing the film does lack is subtlety .
the fact that a little boy was playing " we shall overcome " on his violin after the aforementioned shooting was a cute and discreet reference .
the fact that the entire orchestra begins to play it over and over soon after is an overdone reference that shows how little credit he gives the audience .
( of course , in horror films the foreshadowing and between - the - line moments are meant to be overdone , so perhaps he too is just learning to play the game . )
even with all its flaws , music of the heart is a beautiful film .
that is not an excuse for the movie 's poor beginning .
but as i watched the scenes in carnegie hall , i thought of some of the great acts that have taken that stage .
in december of 1979 a comedian named andy kaufman put on a show that will forever be remembered as one of the most original in theatre history .
the performance included a dead - on elvis impression , robin williams in disguise and a moment at the end when kaufman announced he would take the whole audience out for milk and cookies .
so , how did this comic genius choose to open the show of his life ?
he had a character named tony clifton take the stage for the sole purpose of irritating and angering the audience .
perhaps it is okay for music of the heart to start off rusty because just as kaufman had santa 's favorite food ,
this movie has an amazing finale .
Output: P