Begin Again

Can a song save your life? Or a film about it? The former question is what the movies title originally was going to be. But lets get back to Mark Ruffalo and Keira Knightley, both of whom are exceptional in this. There is also Adam Levine (he plays sort of a version of himself or what the general public thinks of him and he's doing a great job too) and Catherine Keener.

Put this cast together with a really good script, that actually avoids quite a lot of the typical romantic comedy clichés. You genuinely don't know where this is going. It might have to do that this is first a movie about music and then about human love. So it's love for music first and then the rest. It doesn't mean, it doesn't love it's character though. Quite the contrary! They are very nicely drawn, which makes this a very entertaining watch.

I was expecting a cheesy film. I am not into musicals so was hesitant to commit to this film, in a theatre. But, I was pleasantly surprised. I find some of Ruffalos work, like Now you see me, to be hard to sit through. I did not dislike that film, but I hated his performance. Part of it was how vapid the character was. In this film it is the opposite. He is charming, roguish, creative, and delightful to watch. Quite frankly I did not think Knightly was up to this either. Was I ever surprised. She was great. Well written, well directed, and very good overall. In these days of Hollywood losing its edge, and producing more and more low quality, derivative work, it is refreshing to see a film like this one. And I did not even need to use my earplugs. Transformer this film was not. Thankfully.

3 1/2 out of 4 stars.

John Carney is back with a new musical. His 2006 film "Once" is one of my favorite films of all time and I was interested to see where Carney would go next. Watching the trailers for "Begin Again" didn't give me much hope for it, but just enough for me to go out and see it. I enjoyed it much more than I expected though.

"Begin Again" is very similar to "Once," except Carney has a bigger budget and famous movie stars. It deals with Dan and Greta (Mark Ruffalo and Keira Knightley, respectively) who after being cheated on by their former boyfriend/girlfriend meet up and record some songs together. Ruffalo is great as the down on his luck, charming, but often drunk, music producer Dan. Knightley also has a solid performance. Adam Levine does a good job of being a jerk and James Corden is hilarious as Greta's busking friend Steve. The films has themes of love, fatherhood, and the way we use music in our lives.

"Begin Again" is for all the music lovers out there who enjoy creating music. The movie is filled with characters whose religion is music. Look at Dan's car and how he has a music cable hung up on the mirror next to a cross. There's a great moment when Dan listens to Greta perform for the first time. What is just a voice and guitar slowly grows into something much bigger and beautiful. The soundtrack is more poppy compared to the folk songs in "Once," but they are nice to listen to.

This film is the movie you kind of have to be in the mood for to really enjoy. It can be predictable and sappy at times, but it does it well. If you accept it for what it is, you'll enjoy it. "Begin Again" is a musical treat this summer that will leave you wanting to listen to more music and maybe even creating some of your own.

This movie helped me get through a phase in a life and definitely helped me .love it yes it has its flows but whatever

First, I love that you put the song, Thinking About Your Love, by Skipworth and Turner, in this movie! I've always loved their songs, beat and talent. Great choice. The original music was also quite good! Mark Ruffalo and Keira Knightly were great, as well as his wife, Catherine Keener, who is always great, and the daughter, Hailee Steinfeld. I love the whole idea of the movie. I could imagine it was fun from the moment John Carney wrote it and set about making it in to a movie. The idea for an album is too clever. Toying with love interests also kept the movie intriguing as did the creative process that was always at work, throughout the movie. My number one judge of a good movie is did it hold my interest and this movie definitely did. I think another way of putting it would be, did the movie seem like it did not seem long, whatever the length of the movie, if it didn't seem long, then it worked, because you lost track of time by being drawn in to the story and characters. Great story and movie! I definitely recommend people go see it and hope it catches fire, because it's much better than most of the movies that are out this summer.