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Critics Consensus: Song One has plenty of earnest charm, but that isn't enough to overcome its slight, familiar story.
Critic Consensus: Song One has plenty of earnest charm, but that isn't enough to overcome its slight, familiar story.
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All Critics (50) | Top Critics (20) | Fresh (17) | Rotten (33) | DVD (1)
Despite the delicate shadings Hathaway brings to the role, Song One moves inexorably from wan to wearying.
There are no real surprises here, just lives played out quietly and succinctly under the seductive spell of music.
In her feature debut, writer/director Kate Barker-Froyland tends to tiptoe away from the dramatic high notes that audiences often crave and comes up a stanza or two short from a fulfilling resolution.
The film, like the world it's part of, remains just a little too precious, a little too self-involved, a little too insular. Instead of singing out, directly to us, it hums its little tune only to itself.
Starts off as a singularly strong slice-of-life drama before dissipating into thin air.
Anyone with the slightest allergy to emo-tinged millennial attitudinizing should steer clear.
Newcomer Johnny Flynn is the shining star of this rather mesmerising music movie that hits the right notes.
Song One seems unabashedly fond of romantic rooftop wee-hours hangouts in front of Manhattan skyline bokeh backdrops. It's all tenderness and no cynicism in this little world.
[Anne] Hathaway emotes prettily, but this slight picture evaporates on contact.
t's the scenes without music that feel false, and Song One has far too many of them.
There's something just too precious about it all.
If you're a Hathaway fan, this will be worth your time; she's in every scene, and builds a convincingly tense relationship with screen mom Mary Steenburgen. But if you're looking for the next Once, well, this isn't it.
I couldn't get into it. I watched most, but it's very long and slow moving (actually it's not long at under 90 minutes, but it feels it). It's not bad as such, but I was bored.
Super Reviewer
Predictable with questionable acting in places, especially from the big names. But the excellent folk soundtrack and soundtrack in general makes up for it.
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