It was really exciting to know that a major motion picture was going to be shot in and around my adopted hometown. The fact that many Country Music artists were going to be included in the cast further "upped" the buzz back when this film first came out. Unfortunately that buzz quickly turned in to a full fledged razzberry when we locals starting going to the theaters.
The story falls flat on its face on many levels. The unrealistic portrayal of what its like to come to Music City pursuing a career in the industry was disappointing at best. The silly, one dimensional love story between Mr. Phoenix's and Ms. Mathis' characters left you with a sort of sick feeling, like when they put way too much of that butter stuff on your popcorn. The acting was not the problem here - it was the material that these actors were given.
On a brighter note, the inimitable K.T. Oslin most assuredly rocked in her role as the hostess of the BlueBird's open mic night - and her character was very true to life of the real hostess at this legendary place. Sandra Bullock's character was a little crazy bit of comedy relief thrown in to the mix. Ms. Bullock was fresh, fun and believable in her part, as she usually is. On the strength of Ms. Oslin's and Ms. Bullock's performances, I gave this an overall rating of 7. If you're a music industry hopeful looking to this film to give you an idea of what to do when you get here - keep looking. If you're a big K.T./Sandra B. Fan, you'll probably find this film tolerable like I did.
The story falls flat on its face on many levels. The unrealistic portrayal of what its like to come to Music City pursuing a career in the industry was disappointing at best. The silly, one dimensional love story between Mr. Phoenix's and Ms. Mathis' characters left you with a sort of sick feeling, like when they put way too much of that butter stuff on your popcorn. The acting was not the problem here - it was the material that these actors were given.
On a brighter note, the inimitable K.T. Oslin most assuredly rocked in her role as the hostess of the BlueBird's open mic night - and her character was very true to life of the real hostess at this legendary place. Sandra Bullock's character was a little crazy bit of comedy relief thrown in to the mix. Ms. Bullock was fresh, fun and believable in her part, as she usually is. On the strength of Ms. Oslin's and Ms. Bullock's performances, I gave this an overall rating of 7. If you're a music industry hopeful looking to this film to give you an idea of what to do when you get here - keep looking. If you're a big K.T./Sandra B. Fan, you'll probably find this film tolerable like I did.