Begin Again had all of the makings of a great movie. It had an all-star cast with Mark Ruffalo, Keira Knightley, Hailee Steinfeld, and Catherine Keener (in addition to Maroon 5’s Adam Levine). It had a fantastic soundtrack (with most of the songs sung by Knightley). But most importantly, it was tying itself to John Carney, screenwriter/director’s 2007 gem Once, perhaps the most incredible “musical and performing arts” movie that you’ve never heard. I started off liking this movie so much. After 30 minutes, I felt confident it would be as good as, if not better, than Once. The problem was that as believable as Once felt, this movie felt unbelievable by its third act. It was a movie that stretched so far past the idea of a feel-good story that you really couldn’t at all take it seriously. If I had to break down the three acts, I would give Act One an A, Act Two a C, and Act Three a D (based on the implausibility of not just the last act itself, but because it doesn’t effectively bring resolution to any of the issues the characters are dealing with in the first two acts of the film). This movie reminded me of August Rush, but, to be honest, I’d have to watch August Rush again to see if that’s a fair assessment. I do remember wanting to like August Rush much more than I did.

The premise itself of Begin Again is excellent. Dan (Ruffalo – Foxcatcher, The Kids Are All Right) is a discredited record label executive. He has let his personal problems (alcohol, a failed marriage, absenteeism, tardiness) get in the way of his career success. Many years ago, he started a reasonably successful record label with Saul (Yasiin Bey- 16 Blocks, A Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy). Still, he isn’t respected by his partner or any of his staff. This leads to him getting fired from the own company he started. As a result, we get a couple of restarts in this movie. By this, I mean that we get a scene of Gretta (Knightley – The Imitation Game, Pride and Prejudice) being dragged onto stage by her friend Steve (James Corden – Into the Woods, The Three Musketeers) to perform one of her songs in a small pub. Though initially protesting, she reluctantly agrees. Her performance is received well by those paying attention, but for many of the patrons in the bar, it is just background noise. At the end of her one-song performance, though, we see one person in the audience who is starstruck and slowly walks towards the stage while clapping his hands. It is from Dan.

Then we get two different flashbacks (earlier in the day for Dan) and either earlier in the day (I think) or earlier in the week for Gretta. What led them to that bar that night were completely different circumstances, though, by the time they each got there, both individuals were down on their luck. Dan is practically living out of his car. Whatever sort of professional career he had led has quickly been lost. We find him sound asleep in his underwear though it is the middle of the day. He awakens (barely) by his phone, letting him know he must pick up his teenage daughter. His wife Miriam (Catherine Keener – Enough Said, Into the Wild) has left him. He’s broke. At this point, he’s still clinging to his job (barely). On his way to pick up his daughter Violet (Hailee Steinfeld – The Homesmen, True Grit) from school, he’s listening to just seconds of each demo cd he receives before quickly dismissing all potential artists. This ultimately leads to the scene where the company he helped found fires him.

Meanwhile, Gretta travels to New York City with her boyfriend, Dave Kohl (Maroon 5’s Adam Levine) from Europe. Dave is an established pop star. Gretta has helped him write some of his songs but prefers to stay out of the limelight. Now one of the problems with the film is how long Gretta is in NYC. It is never explicitly stated. However, we do learn that Gretta and Dave’s relationship takes a turn for the worse, and that’s what lands her in the tavern, depressed and not wanting to perform her song.

So we have these two down on their luck individuals who find themselves burying their sorrows at the same tavern at the same time. Up until this point, the movie is both believable and enjoyable. But then it takes the strangest twist. It becomes an unbelievable fairy-tale that we are supposed to believe. Dan has these arrangements and an entire ensemble to accompany Gretta. She starts writing more songs. The duo begins recording in various outdoor spots in New York City yet has no money. They find musicians through Dan’s connection and on the street, and these people have no problem a) learning the music or b) meshing with the other members of the band. It’s such a dream come true that even Dan (who hasn’t picked up his bass guitar in years) and Violet (who is terrible) are contributing to these impressive tracks.

This whole happily ever after type feeling extends past the band too. Suddenly all of Dan’s problems go away. Suddenly all of Gretta’s problems go away. Suddenly all of Violet’s problems go away. Dan and Miriam are suddenly back in love. Saul wants to rehire Dan with his up-and-coming talent. At the halfway point of this movie, the characters stopped being believable and just became actors in a film. And that’s not saying that the acting was terrible. It’s just that this movie was too good to be true. It was implausible in so many regards. On top of that, we had no concept of time from when Gretta agreed to work with Dan until the end of the movie. Was it for a week? Was it for two months? It wasn’t stated. They could not have done everything they did in a period as short as a week or two, but if it were closer to two months, there is just no way all of these characters would have dropped their lives to record an album they hoped would be good.

Would I have liked this movie more if it had unknown characters like Once did? Probably not. The acting was above average and wasn’t the problem. The music was great. Each song Knightley (Gretta) sang was catchy and sounded like a hit. But the moment when the movie went from very believable to completely unrealistic was when it lost me. I will say that an audience out there will like this movie. If you enjoyed Once and can let yourself believe in fairy-tales, this might be one of the best films you’ll see all year. For me, this movie was about a C- when I evaluated it as a whole.

Plot 8/10
Character Development 6/10
Character Chemistry 7/10
Acting 7.5/10
Screenplay 7.5/10
Directing  7.5/10
Cinematography 9/10
Sound 10/10
Hook and Reel 7.5/10
Universal Relevance 8/10
72%

• Once
• Chef
• Inside Llewyn Davis
• Rudderless
• La La Land