BEGIN AGAIN – The Review

ONCE was writer/director John Carney’s micro-budget, Ireland-lensed wonder that won an Oscar for best song in 2007 and is currently a stage hit. If Carney was looking for lightning to strike twice with his bigger budget follow-up BEGIN AGAIN, he’s failed. The new film is also a series of songs hanging from a thin frame of a plot but it lacks not only the spontaneity and cool indie vibe of its predecessor but also story, characters, and especially decent songs.

BEGIN AGAIN starts out strong. Dan (Mark Ruffalo) is a disheveled music producer who’d once had great success with hip-hop bands in the ’90. He now finds himself a hard-drinking, unemployed mess after a nasty split with his wife (Catherine Keener) who refers to him affectionately as a “pathetic loser” and rejection from his rebellious teen daughter (Hailee Stanfield) who he picks up at school while drunk and has no idea how to deal with. After drinking all day, Dan finds himself in a bar on open-mic night where hears Greta (Keira Knightley) sing the type of soulful tune about love and longing that you’d expect from someone going through a break-up (which of course she is). Dan likes the song and fantasizes that it is being performed with a full band arrangement, the unmanned instruments on stage coming to life in his mind. It’s a nice cinematic way to get inside the head of a music producer and see how he processes music. But BEGIN AGAIN goes downhill from there. Dan gets an idea that only a booze-addled mind would think a good one: he’s going to record an album of Greta’s music live in various outdoor neighborhoods in New York City. He thinks the character of the locations will somehow come through in the recordings, providing a sort of unique ambience. BEGIN AGAIN then presents Greta singing songs from rooftops, in alleys, on subway platforms, in rowboats and in her chubby friend’s cramped apartment – with results that sound like they were recorded in a studio anyway! Though broke, Dan gets the top musicians in town to back her up, thanks to a favor from his super-star former client (Cee-Lo). Smart-mouthed street kids become back-up singers, and Dan’s daughter suddenly becomes a passionate guitarist. It’s as phony as it sounds though some of this middle section reminded me of ED WOOD with a protagonist so constantly inebriated he thinks he’s actually creating great art instead of crap

BEGIN AGAIN has its moments but after some set-up, it’s basically a 100-minute string of music montages masquerading as heart-on-sleeve drama. Enjoyment of the film may rest on how much you like these songs. There are a lot of them but I found them bland and interchangeable and I got sick of looking at Keira Knightley singing. Her voice is pretty, but modest and undistinguished. She doesn’t embarrass herself but don’t expect a platinum album any time soon. I think BEGIN AGAIN missed an opportunity here by not casting a singer in this role (Greta claims her strength is songwriting rather than singing – a convenient excuse). Isn’t American Idol supposed to be a breeding ground for this type of performer (it wouldn’t hurt b.o.)? They went with an ‘actress’ instead of a singer which was a mistake since the role is not a particularly challenging one. Greta smiles when she sings happy songs and frowns when she sings sad ones. A couple of the songs are sung by Adam Levine, who plays Greta’s on-again off-again boyfriend. His voice is strong but his acting is weak. The real star of the movie is Mark Ruffalo, who outclasses all the talent here and lifts the film towards a higher star rating than it would otherwise deserve. The role of Dan fits the actor like an unshaven glove, and he’s terrific. Unfortunately, when he’s not on screen, BEGIN AGAIN is deadly.

There are a couple of other things that bugged me about BEGIN AGAIN: first, that insipid, forgettable title. It was originally called CAN A SONG SAVE YOUR LIFE? but I guess it made too much sense to call it something that actually related to the film’s story. Or perhaps they did not want to add to the stellar list of films whose titles end in question marks – WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE?, WHAT’S EATING GILBERT GRAPE?, O BROTHER WHERE ART THOU?, THE LOVE GOD?, DUDE WHERE’S MY CAR? So it became f*cking BEGIN AGAIN (though I suppose it’s still a better title than FINNEGAN BEGIN AGAIN). Then there’s the ending – ………..(MILD SPOILER ALERT)………….Since Dan has too much integrity to actually sell the album he’s spent the movie recording (the corporate scene just isn’t his bag, man), he decides to upload it so everyone can enjoy it for free – a stick in the eye to the music industry! It’s not an insignificant plot point, nor out of character, but these scenes happen after the end credits start rolling!!! Audiences exit when the credits start – especially to escape a lame movie like this one – so not letting the story finish is the kind of stupid idea only a drunk like Dan would come up with. Therefore I conclude that BEGIN AGAIN was made by drunks. Avoid.

2 of 5 Stars

BEGIN AGAIN opens in St. Louis Wednesday July 2nd exclusively at Landmark’s Plaza Frontenac Theater