Press Play

Press Play is a delightful story of young love. There are reminiscences of The Lake House, a movie I loved. I enjoyed watching the two leads fall in love. The main plot device is unusual and played out in a very enjoyable way. Danny Glover is perfect in his role. The sound track is great. I really liked every song as they were woven into the plot. Press Play made me very happy. It's a fine "date night" film.

Forget the negative reviews and make your own mind. It's a beautiful movie that will touch your heart. Take my word on it. The performances are solid, the images are so beautiful and the story is so, so touching and inspiring.

As someone who had a fiance' that died 18 years ago and is still dealing with the pain, I wanted to like this movie so bad. Anyone who has lost a loved one would give anything to have to see them again, even for a moment. I guess I should not have had such high hopes for it.

The premise is cool. Although any old head who had cassettes knows about the B side and how that works.

Aside from that. Idk who the lead girl was but she had the emotional range of a leaf. The guy and girl had no chemistry and it was hard to believe they even fell in love. I know it's a 1.5 hour movie and showing that kind of passionate love could be tricky in a short time frame but it can be done. Plus I was highly distracted by the main guys Adam's apple. That thing did better acting than the two leads.

I wanted more for this movie but it just didn't cut it.

Laura (Clara Rugaard) falls for Harrison (Lewis Pullman) who works at a record store. Store owner Cooper (Danny Glover) has put up all the lost mixed tapes on the wall. Harrison makes his own mixed tape for Laura. After a tragedy, Laura discovers that the mixed tape can time travel and she tries to fix history.

The concept is good, but there isn't enough material for a full length movie. The movie is already short and the middle drags. Once the first time travel fails, all the other failures become repetitive. That's the slow part. This is a Twilight Zone episode for about forty minutes. The story needs another layer. The ending is poetic and that saves the movie.

Press Play has a fun set up. Yet it is all a tease.

Director Greg Björkman and co-writer James Bachelor could have played loose and fun with the temporal proceedings and made a Millennial Back To The Future. Laura's tampering with past events could have gotten all dark like The Butterfly Effect. Alas, none of that happens. Instead Laura cries about her lost love following every time jaunt and listens to terribly-forgettable pop-music.

The dialogue, and the situations themselves, become annoyingly repetitive, disconnecting all intrigue and struggle from her quest. Even Danny Glover, whose talents are wasted as the story's wise counselor, has his fortune cookie idioms promptly ignored.

What started out as a clever time travel movie quickly devolves into a mopey first love movie with a mopey soundtrack.