Jack and I thoroughly enjoyed this story of an aging pop star coming to grips with reality. Al Pacino is wonderful in the title role, a character blending the worst of Neil Diamond and Leonard Cohen. I haven't seen Pacino in a movie since I began the blog in 2008, so I'll run though my favorites here: Godfathers (1972, 1974, 1990), Serpico (1973), Dog Day Afternoon (1975), ...And Justice for All. (1979), Cruising (1980), Scarface (1983), Sea of Love (1989), Dick Tracy (1990), Glengarry Glen Ross (1992), Scent of a Woman (1992) which earned him his only Oscar win, Donnie Brasco (1997), Devil's Advocate (1997), Any Given Sunday (1999), Insomnia (2002), S1m0ne (2002), and Ocean's Thirteen (2007). It was fun to see old photos of Danny that we recognized as stills from some of Pacino's work. Annette Bening (last blogged in Girl Most Likely) made us smile as the practical hotel manager, the always reliable Bobby Cannavale (most recently in Annie) didn't make us smile but is very strong as Danny's son, Jennifer Garner (last in Men, Women & Children) is good in her few scenes as Danny's daughter-in-law, and we liked Christopher Plummer (most recently in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) as Danny's manager. Josh Peck and Melissa Benoist (The Wackness and Whiplash, respectively) are cute as hotel employees and little Giselle Eisenberg is adorable as Danny's hyperactive granddaughter.
This is the directorial debut of Dan Fogelman, who wrote The Guilt Trip which we didn't like, Last Vegas, Crazy, Stupid Love., and this, which we did.
In 1971 John Lennon wrote a letter, including his personal phone number, to a young English musician named Steve Tilston, but Tilston didn't get it until 2005, 25 years after Lennon's death. Fogelman based his story on that (here's an article) but fictionalized the character, as Tilston achieved no kind of fame (have you heard of him? Neither had I). One of the marvelous things about this movie is that Yoko Ono permitted many of Lennon's songs to be used in the soundtrack (another article), which is rare. I can't find an actual song listing. Sorry!
Another fun fact is that the stadium scene was shot during the intermission of a concert by the band Chicago at Los Angeles' Greek Theater (here's someone's phone video) after the audience was coached (other footage was cut into the movie later). Pacino then joined the band onstage for the beginning of the second set (more video).
Rotten Tomatoes' critics come in at 77 and its audiences at 81. We liked it a lot and so have most of our friends.
