Movie Reaction: Hearts Beat Loud

Formula: That Thing You Do / Say Anything

The more movies I see, the more I've had to shift what I'm looking for in movies. I can't go in expecting to be surprised every time. Not every movie can be a revelation.  Increasingly, I'm looking to execution or how well a film hits an emotional beat to determine how good a movie is. No need to reinvent the wheel. Just inspect it to make sure that it's perfectly round, made out of good material, and is thematically rich with a well-structured screenplay. OK, the metaphor fell apart with that last one, but you get the point.

Hearts Beat Loud is nothing I haven't seen before. Maybe I have see this exact combination of pieces, but I recognize all the individual parts. It's the story of Frank (Nick Offerman) and his daughter, Sam (Kiersey Clemons). Frank owns a dying record shop in New York City. His wife died years ago. And, it's the summer before Sam goes off to college across the country. Frank is not looking forward to what his future holds without her around, so when a song that he and Sam record gets a modicum of attention on Spotify, he uses that as a last attempt to stay close with her. So yeah, it's about as Sundance as it gets. It's a small cast - just Offerman, Clemons, Toni Collette, Sasha Lane, Ted Danson, and Blythe Danner. Frank is able to keep a record shop open that didn't even open until 2001. Sam has a coming of age story. Her first love is with a "starving artist". Frank's best friend owns the local bar. This is about a group of people who, in my experience, only exist in little indie movies. It reminds me of a Mindy Kaling joke about RomComs that have a character who runs an art gallery (How many people really run art galleries anymore?).

The trailer of the film is a nice misdirect. It paints the movie about being about the father/daughter band with a sleeper hit song. That's certainly an element of the film, but it doesn't turn into That Thing You Do! It's always about that central relationship and how it's inevitably going to change. Frank doesn't know how to let go, and Sam has to grow up. Knowing that, the direction things go are appropriate and satisfying.

Offerman and Clemons are sweet together. Post-Parks & Rec, it's been fun separating Offerman from the Ron Swanson character. He's much goofier in this than as Ron. Frank is a dreamer. Offerman still has that excellent deadpan though and that amazing, giddy laugh. Seriously, if that laugh doesn't bring a smile to your face, something is wrong with you. I should have more opinions about Clemons than I currently do. Since Dope in 2015, I've seen her in a lot of shows and movies. She's always good, but I haven't nailed down what makes her tick yet. For now, the appeal is the simple fact that I always believe her. Despite playing a bartender, Ted Danson is much more like his character in Bored to Death than Sam Malone. I like that he's at the point in his life where he knows he has nothing to prove. I like a relaxed Ted Danson, happy with roles no matter what their size. Sasha Lane plays off Clemons well. I'm not particularly fond of her as an actress yet, but this is a nice first step. It's equally nice to see Toni Collette not running around terrified. After Hereditary, this is a good reminder that she can give a charming, small performance too. The weakest part of the cast is Blythe Danner, only because the story with her as Frank's mother is completely tacked on. She's just one more complication in his life. I can't think of a single necessary scene with her.

The original music written for the movie (including the song used as the title of the movie) hits the right note. The songs are good enough that I was tapping my foot along with them but still rough enough that I could believe they came from a father and daughter recording for a couple days in an apartment with decent equipment.

Hearts Beat Loud starts a little rough. It introduces at lot of indie movie cliches and is a little clunky in how it introduces the individual pieces (for example, there's the obligatory scene where we see that Frank is a pretty awful owner of a store and has horrible customer service). Once it sets the foreground though, I was all in. By the time is gets to their climactic performance (because of course that's where it's all leading to) I was rooting them on.

Verdict (?): Weakly Recommend

After the Credits

I'm a little split about the Jeff Tweedy cameo. You see, his cameo is an awkward scene that adds nothing to the story. It's a little funny if you know who he is (which I only 40% did). Otherwise, it's so clunky that my first thought was "that must be a famous musician they got to do a cameo". But, I do appreciate that they don't go overboard with it. They don't go out of their way to point out who he is and why the cameo is cool. You either know who it is or you don't. I'm fine with that, I guess.