[Movie Review] Begin Again (2014)
Director: John Carney
Writer: John Carney
Runtime: 104 min
Main Cast:
- Kiera Knightley as Greta
- Mark Ruffalo as Dan Mulligan
- James Corden as Steve
- Adam Levine as Dave Kohl
- Hailee Steinfeld as Violet Mulligan
- Catherine Keener as Miriam
Review: by Anthony and Lee
We had only seen one trailer for Begin Again, but we decided to see it anyway, based on the talent of Mark Ruffalo and our fondness of romantic comedies.
In Begin Again, young singer/songwriter Greta (Kiera Knightley) who has recently had her world turned upside-down meets a music executive, Dan (Mark Ruffalo), in desperate need of a star. Their chance meeting changes not only Greta’s life but Dan’s as well, all to a wonderful soundtrack backed by a vibrant and living New York City.
What We Liked:
The acting was pretty solid, which was a bit unexpected, considering Adam Levine was one of the main characters. It was a surprise to see that he could actually act, sort of… His role as Dave Kohl, not to be confused with Dave Grohl, was a singer songwriter with talent and fame, so it was close to his real life and not that challenging for him. However, there were scenes where he had to actually act and he did a deceptively decent job.
Mark Ruffalo was fantastic as per normal. He’s so dang charismatic. Ruffalo as Dan Mulligan had so much character and he really got some great scenes to explain and explore the many problems he had. Whether it was with his distant relationship with his daughter, his separation from his Wife, his ongoing battle with alcoholism, or his dry spell at work, Ruffalo really stole the show from Knightley.
Knightly was decent enough, on par for her, nothing spectacular but not terrible either.
We loved James Corden as Steve, Gretta’s best friend, however. Like any best friend in a good movie, he was funny, supportive, and musically talented as well, which was quite important for this musically focused film. As soon as we saw him we, recognized him from Doctor Who and knew we were in for a treat.
The story itself was told really well. It had an interesting style, where portions of the story were told and then retold from a different perspective. It was nice to see how each character’s life lead to those certain events.
This movie was another rather unconventional romantic comedy with a few blurred lines, but we were ultimately pleased with the way things turned out.
The real selling point of the film, however, was the soundtrack. We cannot wait for it to be released. While we’re all aware that Adam Levine can both sing and play an instrument, we can’t necessarily say the same for Knightly. While it was clear she wasn’t playing the guitar, she may have been actually singing. Either way, all of the songs were fantastic, especially Lone Stars.
What We Didn’t Like:
Something that I (Anthony) noticed that several times in the movie was that the camera was swaying. It wasn’t as severe as the shaky cam in the Jason Bourne movies, but it was obvious that the cameraman was just holding the camera and attempting to stay as still as possible. The few times I noticed it, it completely took me out of the movie.
Summary
Begin Again was a nice, enjoyable little romantic comedy. It was very interesting and had some pretty decent acting, but it had fantastic music. We liked it a lot.
Images Courtesy of IMDB
Why don’t you guys have the user rating option on more movies? I haven’t seen this one so I won’t vote, but that’s a cool feature to add!
I thought we had that option enabled, I’ll double check going forward.
Also, you guys should have a favorites section. A section where you only have media that you guys have voted 4 or 5 stars for and have most highly recommended.