I didn't want to like this movie but was drawn in by its goofy charm. It's a veritable treasure trove of 70's cars, clothes, hair, coffee mugs, interior decor, you name it. The dotted swiss maxidresses in the waffle ad alone are pure concentrated midcentury goodness. Despite the brouhaha about the movie's titular song, my favorite one was actually "Do You Have A Piano," which is short, endearing and peppy with great harmonies. Too bad they didn't use it for the opening credits instead of the momentum-draining "California Daydreams".
Didi Conn is fine in the role of the young Hollywood hopeful, and easy to like with her wide-eyed fresh faced earnestness, though I think that Melanie Mayron, who plays her bff Annie Gerard, delivers a more subtle and natural performance than Conn, who has a broader, more musical theater or sitcom style.
The girl's conflicts with her father are certainly valid, but why would anyone think that the same few 20-year-old jokes could be funny in a comedy act, or that ventriloquism isn't annoying enough in itself? I did like the scene after her onstage meltdown when she says she just learned something very painful but important- that you can only really depend on yourself, and that it's no shame to be alone, in fact it's a necessary part of growing up. (I'm still struggling with that one myself!) Odd that the title song, which plays at the end as she embarks on her new life has the exact opposite meaning: "You give me strength to carry on" ...right after she realizes that strength must come from within.
The production values are what I think really crippled this movie. You can barely hear the actors' voices in crowd scenes, actors are inexplicably shot in profile while speaking, so you can't see their faces, Conn looks oddly hunchbacked in her driving scenes, and the exposition before the credits has the amaterurish feeling of a student project. I can see why audiences were disappointed after the huge media blitz it received. You would be, if you expected a high budget blockbuster instead of a slightly awkward little coming of age story with a few catchy pop songs. Too bad the producers didn't have enough faith in the movie to let it stand on its own, but that's Hollywood. Ironic that a running theme in this pic is the misguided fakeness of ad campaigns.
Still, I found it to be an enjoyable 2 hr time capsule with decent performances, a plucky underdog lead character and a touching scene or two. I liked Conn's faint Brooklyn accent and the natural prettiness of the actresses at a time when young women were allowed to look like actual human beings on film and not perfect little plastic dolls. I'll take awkward but earnest over slick and shallow anytime!
Didi Conn is fine in the role of the young Hollywood hopeful, and easy to like with her wide-eyed fresh faced earnestness, though I think that Melanie Mayron, who plays her bff Annie Gerard, delivers a more subtle and natural performance than Conn, who has a broader, more musical theater or sitcom style.
The girl's conflicts with her father are certainly valid, but why would anyone think that the same few 20-year-old jokes could be funny in a comedy act, or that ventriloquism isn't annoying enough in itself? I did like the scene after her onstage meltdown when she says she just learned something very painful but important- that you can only really depend on yourself, and that it's no shame to be alone, in fact it's a necessary part of growing up. (I'm still struggling with that one myself!) Odd that the title song, which plays at the end as she embarks on her new life has the exact opposite meaning: "You give me strength to carry on" ...right after she realizes that strength must come from within.
The production values are what I think really crippled this movie. You can barely hear the actors' voices in crowd scenes, actors are inexplicably shot in profile while speaking, so you can't see their faces, Conn looks oddly hunchbacked in her driving scenes, and the exposition before the credits has the amaterurish feeling of a student project. I can see why audiences were disappointed after the huge media blitz it received. You would be, if you expected a high budget blockbuster instead of a slightly awkward little coming of age story with a few catchy pop songs. Too bad the producers didn't have enough faith in the movie to let it stand on its own, but that's Hollywood. Ironic that a running theme in this pic is the misguided fakeness of ad campaigns.
Still, I found it to be an enjoyable 2 hr time capsule with decent performances, a plucky underdog lead character and a touching scene or two. I liked Conn's faint Brooklyn accent and the natural prettiness of the actresses at a time when young women were allowed to look like actual human beings on film and not perfect little plastic dolls. I'll take awkward but earnest over slick and shallow anytime!