Premise: A high school girl attempts to make the best of the many hardships in her life.
At some point Auli'i Cravalho is going to grow up, and that's going to make me sad. If you know her, it's as the voice of Moana, which is a Disney Animated film that's really grown on me. I really first because aware of her when she performed "How Far I'll Go" at the Oscars. The performance started a little rough, when one of the backup dancers accidentally bumped the 16-year old, but she powered through it impressively. It was a star-making performance as far as I was concerned. I then saw her in the rightly forgotten NBC series Rise, in which she was the easiest part to root for. What's been nice is that she's a Disney star without having to go through the Disney Channel crucible. As a result, she hasn't really chaffed against her image. She just seems nice and seems to like being nice. That's going to end at some point. It always does, so I'll appreciate it as long as it lasts.
In All Together Now, Cravalho plays a saintly high school Senior named Amber who refuses to let her life get her down. And her life is hard. She and her mother (Justina Machado) are homeless. Amber spends her time working at a donut shop, working at a nursing home, teaching ESL classes, and going to school, where she does stuff like organize fundraisers for the Marching band. Throw in the fact that her mother is an alcoholic with an abusive boyfriend, and Amber just got a coverall on a Rough Life Bingo card. Luckily, she has a can-do spirit, great friends, and a dog she goes everywhere with. Can she overcome her hardships and stubbornness to get into the prestigious Carnegie-Melon school (because of course she's a gifted singer)?
The plot of this is pretty basic. The first hour throws one piece of bad news after another at Amber. The last half hour is the world paying her back for all the good things she's done. It's pure wish fulfillment, but it totally worked for me. It's really damn hard to root against Cravalho, so by the end, I was just happy to see everything work out. Oh, sorry. Is saying everything works out a spoiler? If you think it is, then you are watching the wrong movie.
It helps that the supporting cast is unexpectedly strong. Fred Armisen tones down his weirdest impulses to play one of Amber's teachers. Judy Reyes is used well as a family friend. I already mentioned Justina Machado, who is always nice to see. Carol Burnett even turns up. I know she's not the most discriminating person when choosing roles, but I'll never stop respecting Carol Burnett devoting her time to anything. The young cast is pleasantly diverse in the way that's become common-place in teen movies now.
Most of the movie falls on Auli'i Cravalho though. I really have to buy that she's the nicest, kindest person in the world, and I do. That's about all her performance needs. I'm sure she'll flex more acting muscles at some point, but this isn't the movie for that.
This is just a charming movie that worked for me due to earnestness despite it being transparent and predictable.
Verdict: Weakly Recommend
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