Danny Collins tells the story of a washed-up, but enormously successful, singer-songwriter (Al Pacino) who hit his prime in the early 1970s and hasn’t seen personal fulfillment in half a lifetime. Decades of singing the same songs over and over again have brought Collins to rock bottom, which happens to be the bottom of a whiskey glass.
The story opens with a grandiose concert that Collins goes through methodically and then drinks the memory away quickly after. What’s actually unique about this story? Decades after giving an interview, just as his fame was coming into play, John Lennon wrote him a letter asking to meet up and discuss his future. The letter was lost in delivery, but winds up in Danny Collins hands 40 years later.
The story opens with a grandiose concert that Collins goes through methodically and then drinks the memory away quickly after. What’s actually unique about this story? Decades after giving an interview, just as his fame was coming into play, John Lennon wrote him a letter asking to meet up and discuss his future. The letter was lost in delivery, but winds up in Danny Collins hands 40 years later.
“What could have been?” That’s the question Collins tries to answer by canceling his tour, reconnecting with his son he never met in New Jersey, and flirting with a hotel manager. Can a hard drinking, fast living hot shot rock star start anew? Does everyone get a second chance? Can there be a character rebirth? These are the questions we have to answer watching this, and it’s excruciating. Jeff Bridges played a similar character in Bad Blake in the film, Crazy Heart in which he won the Oscar for Best Actor. That film took a similar plot and made it small and intimate, and the music was actually good. Danny Collins is a Paul McCartney- Tom Jones fusion that just doesn't deliver. The story is wrapped in cliches about rock stars and put into a world that doesn't even feel lived in. Everything feels built and clean like a set. Collins’ home, the hotel, and even the venues he plays in - none feel real. In fact, everything feels forced, including Al Pacino’s presence in the movie, in which he plays himself: classic “Whoo-ah” Pacino riding his celebrity charm into the shoes of Danny Collins.
Dan Fogelman (writer of Crazy Stupid Love) makes his directorial debut with this post-Oscar season effort. That’s exactly what it is: an effort. Al Pacino is not the actor he once was, and his name can’t save a movie that’s so poorly written, produced, and directed. But I will take one tip from the Danny Collins book of regret: drink to forget.
Dan Fogelman (writer of Crazy Stupid Love) makes his directorial debut with this post-Oscar season effort. That’s exactly what it is: an effort. Al Pacino is not the actor he once was, and his name can’t save a movie that’s so poorly written, produced, and directed. But I will take one tip from the Danny Collins book of regret: drink to forget.
RSS Feed
