Jack and I loved this musical where two lost souls (a dumped singer-songwriter and an alcoholic record company exec), er, begin again and find their strength. Keira Knightley and Mark Ruffalo shine in the lead roles and the music is good, too. Knightley (last blogged in Anna Karenina) had to learn to pretend to play guitar and sing for real. Apparently her husband, musician James Righton, offered to teach her guitar but she said his lessons almost led to "divorce and murder," so she got a new coach. And her sweet soprano may be wispy but it's quite pretty (you won't hear her admitting it in interviews). The always dependable Ruffalo (most recently in Now You See Me) is wonderful as always. Supporting strength comes from Adam Levine (lead singer of Maroon 5, in a strong feature acting debut) as the rock star boyfriend who dumps Knightley, Hailee Steinfeld (last in True Grit) as Ruffalo's teenage daughter, Catherine Keener (most recently in Enough Said) as Ruffalo's ex and Steinfeld's mother, and James Corden (voice of the mouse in the Oscar nominated shorts The Gruffalo and The Gruffalo's Child) as Knightley's British friend in New York. You may see a screen credit for an actor named Yasiin Bey. That is the new moniker for actor/rapper Mos Def (last in Cadillac Records), whose birth name was Dante Terrell Smith. He plays Ruffalo's record company partner. Musician Cee Lo Green also has a few noteworthy scenes.
Director/writer John Carney is best known for Once (2006), which has been adapted into a Broadway stage musical (I could see this one going that route as well) and here uses the songwriting talents of Gregg Alexander (who is solely credited with the instrumental score), Danielle Brisebois (before her musical career she known for playing Stephanie in All in the Family and Archie Bunker's Place), and her husband Nick Lashley. You can stream the whole album on youtube and read the writing credits on imdb.
Many reviewers have compared this unfavorably to Once, but Begin Again still averages 80% from critics and 85 from audiences on Rotten Tomatoes. We liked it better. Go see it.
