Country singer legend Kelly Cantor (Paltrow) comes out of rehab to resurrect her career.
It took almost the whole movie before we heard Paltrow sing. And, when she did there was no Aha, or WOW moment for me. She was okay, but the loud music and fans at the concert didn't really give me a chance to hear her pipes all that well. She was okay, but not as good as Reese Witherspoon in Walk The Line. Do you hear disappointment in me? They could have better shown Paltrow in a better light to showcase her singing. Didn't happen.
If the audience was treated to flashbacks of Paltrow as Kelly singing before rehab, it would have gone better for me. For most of the movie, I kept asking myself: when is she going to sing? That was what all the hype was all about, her singing. Okay, enough of this.
For most of the movie we had to take everyone's word for it that Kelly was a good country western singer, a legend so to speak. For most of the movie it was like Paltrow saying, "yeah, I can sing, but watch me act first." Had this been a true story, we could have forgiven that. Like I said flashbacks of Kelly singing would have gone a long way to liking this more. Okay, enough of this.
The real winners here are Beau (Hedlund) and Chiles (Meester). They were great and they did enough really good singing for me to enjoy the movie while waiting, waiting, waiting for Kelly (Paltrow) to sing. With these country western type movies, we get to hear the real country songs by pretty good singers and Hedlund and Meester are indeed that. I enjoyed them so much I looked forward to them singing and kind of hoped Kelly would return to rehab as she was a mess and didn't seem to want to help herself. For my money, Hedlund and Meester saved this effort when it should have been Paltrow.
Another winner: the band that played for Beau, Chiles and Kelly was excellent and we got the intended flavor of county western music. Great job.
The acting was good all around. Tim McGraw as Kelly's husband can quit his day job as he was more than good as the conflicted husband no longer in love with his wife. The script was suspect in many places, but the singing of Beau and Chiles had us forgiving that. They were that good. Many country western movies have the type of humor that makes fun of themselves, but that was not the case in here.
Here's the thing. We needed to hear Paltrow sing, but we had to wait until the end and then it wasn't WOW stuff. Another thing: We didn't care about Kelly because she didn't care. Another thing: We did care for Chiles as she was a struggling singer whose nervousness got to us. One more thing: we knew Beau would be okay as he was a confident person whose head was on straight. One last thing: this was okay, but not exactly country strong. Okay, enough of this.
Violence: No. Sex: No. Nudity: No. Language: No.
It took almost the whole movie before we heard Paltrow sing. And, when she did there was no Aha, or WOW moment for me. She was okay, but the loud music and fans at the concert didn't really give me a chance to hear her pipes all that well. She was okay, but not as good as Reese Witherspoon in Walk The Line. Do you hear disappointment in me? They could have better shown Paltrow in a better light to showcase her singing. Didn't happen.
If the audience was treated to flashbacks of Paltrow as Kelly singing before rehab, it would have gone better for me. For most of the movie, I kept asking myself: when is she going to sing? That was what all the hype was all about, her singing. Okay, enough of this.
For most of the movie we had to take everyone's word for it that Kelly was a good country western singer, a legend so to speak. For most of the movie it was like Paltrow saying, "yeah, I can sing, but watch me act first." Had this been a true story, we could have forgiven that. Like I said flashbacks of Kelly singing would have gone a long way to liking this more. Okay, enough of this.
The real winners here are Beau (Hedlund) and Chiles (Meester). They were great and they did enough really good singing for me to enjoy the movie while waiting, waiting, waiting for Kelly (Paltrow) to sing. With these country western type movies, we get to hear the real country songs by pretty good singers and Hedlund and Meester are indeed that. I enjoyed them so much I looked forward to them singing and kind of hoped Kelly would return to rehab as she was a mess and didn't seem to want to help herself. For my money, Hedlund and Meester saved this effort when it should have been Paltrow.
Another winner: the band that played for Beau, Chiles and Kelly was excellent and we got the intended flavor of county western music. Great job.
The acting was good all around. Tim McGraw as Kelly's husband can quit his day job as he was more than good as the conflicted husband no longer in love with his wife. The script was suspect in many places, but the singing of Beau and Chiles had us forgiving that. They were that good. Many country western movies have the type of humor that makes fun of themselves, but that was not the case in here.
Here's the thing. We needed to hear Paltrow sing, but we had to wait until the end and then it wasn't WOW stuff. Another thing: We didn't care about Kelly because she didn't care. Another thing: We did care for Chiles as she was a struggling singer whose nervousness got to us. One more thing: we knew Beau would be okay as he was a confident person whose head was on straight. One last thing: this was okay, but not exactly country strong. Okay, enough of this.
Violence: No. Sex: No. Nudity: No. Language: No.