Overview
Annie is stuck in a long-term relationship with Duncan – an obsessive fan of obscure rocker Tucker Crowe. When the acoustic demo of Tucker's hit record from 25 years ago surfaces, its discovery leads to a life-changing encounter with the elusive rocker himself.
Annie (Rose Byrne) lives with her boyfriend Duncan (Chris O’Dowd) and they find themselves in a deep rut, something she sort of know but lacks the chutzpah to do anything about, and something he seems too self-obsessed to realise. Actually, Duncan is obsessed with someone else: Tucker Crowe, an obscure American rocker who disappeared in the middle of a gig sometime in the 90s. Duncan has transformed one of their rooms into a shrine to Crowe and runs a website dedicated to his hero, where he spends his time indulging in group admiration and adulation with like-minded middle aged men.
When he mysteriously receives a demo copy of Tucker’s only album, Annie listens to it first and is rather unimpressed. When Duncan posts about it on his website, Annie finds the moxie to post a scathing review of Tucker’s music. Whilst Duncan dismisses her opinion as he seemingly has been doing for many years already, Annie receives a response to her review from none other than Tucker Crowe (Ethan Hawke) himself. After a bit of You’ve Got Mail-ing back and forth, the opportunity presents itself for the two of them to meet in person. In the meantime Duncan has found a new love at work, someone who appreciates him and Tucker for their creative genius, and he moves out, opening the door for rom-com shenanigans.
Rose Byrne’s likeability carries the movie and Ethan Hawke is very passable. O’Dowd feels a bit out of his depth – he doesn’t seem to connect at any level with anyone, and as his obsession is the instigator of the entire plot, it would have been more interesting had he had some charisma to offer. The movie touches ever so gently upon various potentially bigger themes of family, second-chances, mid-life crises, and regrets, but steers well clear of diving in and exploring these in any depth or exaggerating these for comedic effect (with the exception of one scene in hospital). So we are left with the slight version of a rom-com that will excite nor offend many a viewer.
Just a bit too contrived, a bit too predictable, a bit too safe, a bit too bland. And no Naked Juliet anywhere in sight either.
★★★☆☆
