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| Al Pacino is Danny Collins |
Wes's Grade: B-
Pacino and company make for a witty but predictable "Danny Collins"
In the new dramedy "Danny Collins" there is a witty exchange between Al Pacino's character, an old rock singer, and Annette Bening, a hotel manager as he's about to go out. "An honest opinion, how do I look?" he asks her. "Well, slightly ridiculous" she replies. "No, I don't I look wonderful," he retorts. That could sum up the film itself: slightly ridiculous, thinking it's far better and more clever than it really is, which is a mildly amusing, somewhat touching but very calculated movie that really belongs on HBO or Showtime (I could easily see a series being made from this). Pacino is aging 1970s singer Danny Collins, who can't give up his hard-living ways. But when his manager (Christopher Plummer) uncovers a 40 year-old undelivered letter written to him by John Lennon, he decides to change course and embarks on a heartfelt journey to rediscover his family (Bobby Cannavale and Jennifer Garner), find true love and begin a second act. Directed and written by actor and writer Dan Fogelman ("Crazy, Stupid Love") in his feature directorial debut, "Danny Collins" is an enjoyable but hardly subtle and far from revelatory, but is worth a look for the solid cast, who seems to enjoy themselves. Oscar-winner Pacino, whose characters looks like Keith Richards but whose music obviously resembles Neil Diamond's (it's actually loosely based on a true story of English folk singer Steve Tilston), is very game and performs well, though he's too old for the part (and we know now the old saying that singers make better actors than vice versa, with the exception of maybe that Streep goddess), yet he still has solid chemistry with the rest of the cast, including Bening, Plummer, Cannavale and Garner. The movie is much more fun when it doesn't take itself too seriously, and the predictable last act of the movie as Collins strives to find redemption in reconnecting with his long-lost family, while touching, comes hardly as a surprise (no spoilers, but someone in these types of things always gets sick with some rare disease, a stale contrivance if there ever was one). The often witty "Danny Collins" is an enjoyable piece of fluff that pulls few punches and you may not remember much after its over, but it's fun as it runs its course.
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