One More Time

"Just because you can't be someone new doesn't mean you can't do something new" Jude (Amber Heard)

To see Christopher Walken sing as a has-been crooner is to remember he started as an entertainer who could dance pretty meanly on the stage. Here he features an original song written by his character, Paul Lombard, in his sunset years hoping for a new musical start.

One More Time is indeed about one more chance, not just for Paul but also his 31-year old daughter, Jude, who has some singing/writing gifts she is weakly promoting. Typically, she has to deal with her father's fame and her own inability to stay anchored in a place that's both physical and figurative.

Like dad, Jude doesn't always do what's best for her (both of them sexually vulnerable), and like him she needs another chance as the title suggests. The most satisfactory moments are when the two go after each other's weaknesses, a form of tough love that allows both actors to sharpen their craft. When he comments that they live in "the poor part of the Hamptons," you are aware that they both live in an alternate universe where "poor" is a relative term. Like their lives, not everything is as it really is.

The most normal conflict of the film comes when Paul's wife, Lucille (Ann Magnuson), starts divorce proceedings because of Paul's infidelities. Out of this discomforting circumstance comes a chance for conservative daughter, Corinne (Kelli Garner), to show her more aggressive side, another case of a character getting a chance.

One more time is a small film that will leave Christopher Walken fans wanting more of his sneer and world weary irony, yet as a washed up but returning pop entertainer, his character seems to fit the actor one more time.

It was not that it was really bad, as much as it was bland and stale.

I've seen Christopher Walken give a more lively performance in much worse movies. This was Definitely not his finest performance.

Amber Heard was not interesting enough to hold down this movie at all, and the chemistry between her and Walken was pretty weak.

It was suppose to be a coming-of-age story, but there is no heart behind it, and it really needs that heart.

And it felt like the actors were just dictating the script, not acting.

the music was pretty lame too. The song that went through the film, that was suppose to capture the moment, failed to do so.

Could not recommence seeing this flick as it did nothing for me.

"It's not a comeback, I never went anywhere." Jude (Heard) lives her life on her own terms and does what she wants. Unfortunately this doesn't turn out like she hopes and is forced to move back home. When her famous singer father Paul (Walken) tells the family he is beginning his comeback old tensions rise up. Now Jude, her sister and her father are all clashing in a typical dysfunctional family fashion with only two outcomes, work together and become closer, or lose everything. This is not a bad movie at all. The actors are all very good and the story is interesting and watchable. The music is good and I enjoyed everything about this. The only problem was that when it was over my reaction was pretty much, well, that was OK. This is nothing that is so good to talk to everyone about, nor bad enough to tell people not to watch. While I liked the movie I think the sign of a really good one is that it makes you feel something, this one didn't. Overall, a movie that is watchable and entertaining, but it is really just that. Not good or bad, just watchable. I give this a B-.

...or, how my thirty-one year-old teenage daughter cinched up her borscht belt, moved to California, joined Hadassah, and married an entertainment lawyer in Sherman Oaks, or a dentist from Oxnard.

Mr. Walken once again demonstrates that he never met a camera he couldn't beguile, and if he can be a Lippman, there is no reason why Mel Gibson shouldn't have his scalp circumcised. (There are a number of good moils who would be happy to do the honors.)

I've always loved Nantucket in February, when the wind off the Atlantic is as cold and hard as the Puritan god, so the shots of clam shacks closed for the winter warmed me right up; straight out of the indie Playbill, but nicely done, nonetheless.

The very brief, scattered glimpses of Corinne's silent reactions to the exclusive bubble shared by Paul and Jude bespeak a lifetime of difficult experience. You don't need to wade through three hours of slush like The Aviator (2004) to know Kelli Garner is talented, and One More Time (2015) proves she has become a perceptive adult. Someone should really give her a prominent lead in something commensurate with her ability and maturity.

Oliver Platt is always a pleasure.

A couple of continuity issues that don't stand up to scrutiny, but nothing inexcusable.

A good job. Thank you.

XYZ

Although there are story elements to "One More Time" that I liked and it's a real shame that the film hampers itself by making it so difficult for the audience to care about the folks in the picture. To me, it's almost impossible to make a really good film given this serious handicap.

When the film begins, Jude (Amber Heard) is awakening from a one- night stand. She's overslept and is late for work...and folks are waiting and waiting for her to arrive. Apparently, this isn't unusual for Jude. What is unusual is her soon leaving New York City to go stay with her father, famous old-time crooner Paul Lombard (Christopher Walken). Apparently, their relationship is stormy but she has no choice as she's about to be thrown out of her apartment for not paying her rent. But things aren't all rosy back with dad as their relationship, and every relationship in this odd family, is severely strained. Paul is a serial philanderer who only thinks of himself, Jude's sister is a demanding and rather high-strung young woman and the step-mother is nicknamed 'Satan' by her step-kids. Through the course of the film, most of these folks remain true to their life patterns...destroying themselves and those around them. And, by the end of the film, there's a vague suggestion that perhaps Jude is tired of all this. If this summary sounds a bit bleak and depressing, then you pretty much get the picture, though it at least has some nice singing throughout the film.

The movie has some nice acting. While I found it hard to believe Walken could be a crooner, it was an interesting character and a nice stretch for him. Heard also was able to show that she could not only act but sing rather nicely. But nice acting and an interesting location shoot in the Hamptons aren't enough and the film is one I wouldn't rush out to see but might perhaps might catch when it appears on Netflix one day when you are looking for an undemanding film. Not bad....but also not particularly enjoyable either.