Pretty Good

Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

Blistering performances.

I wanted to like this movie. I love classic rock and I already liked the cast (those that I had heard of) and it's kind of OK, but just not great. Plot-wise, I knew what I wanted and what I was gonna get. Once great rock band, ravaged by tragedy, time and drugs get back together, against the odds to heal the hurt and pull off a great comeback. To pull off a story this clichéd, the movie needed better script, better acting, bigger scale, bigger budget and more authenticity. As it is it just feels cheesy and the empathy with the 70's rock band seems second-hand, based on folklore and not actually from having lived it. The writers were born in the 30's,so they would have been past it way before the heyday of the band in the film. I guess that's why it just seems clichéd rather than genuine. It was enjoyable mostly, but it's been done better before, several times.

I agree with what "veinbreaker" wrote with regards to the "Ahhhh" feeling you get at the end of this movie. I absolutely loved the locations they chose to film, the songs were well written and interesting, especially the psychedelic sounding track on which Hans Matheson sings. It's trippy. Nighy was fab in his role, Nail "nailed" it, Beano was the typical drummer, and Rea kept it together. Bruce Robinson was awesome. Helena was a lovely girlfriend. But I felt Juliet Aubrey's performance was gorgeous. The scenes between Aubrey & Robinson killed me! Perfectly played and the music behind the scene was spot on! Too bad not many more musicians have checked this movie out! They ought to!I've told all my musician friends. great quote by Jimmy Nail's character: "it's supposed to be rock & roll, not the Phantom of the f*****g opera!"

Bill Nighy playing the lead singer with relationship, financial, and past alcohol / substance issues leads this movie and provides most of it's comic value. This is not his Greatest performance, but adds a lot of depth and range to an actor I first noticed in 'The Girl in the Café.' Where did I get the idea that he could only play stodgy old bureaucrats? I have certainly seen Nighy in some Great Movies, but don't always come away remembering his parts like I will from this one.Juliet Aubrey brings heart to this film, as one who has moved on, but still feels the call of these crazy performers that she loved.I wasn't that crazy about this movie. There will be viewers who will love it more based on credible backstage drama of getting rock star egos together to perform, not just in their Youth, but years later when they carry the baggage and scars of their earlier dreams.I don't know how this film got an 'R' rating? Drugs and Sex are real part of the Rock Band environment, but do not seem to be glorified in this film. Per the plot - these characters paid dearly for the substance abuses of their youth in Death, Separation, and Lost Loves. There's not enough Vulgar Language, Nudity, Drugs or Sexual Situations to deserve more than a PG-13! (Maybe for an 'R' I was disappointed there wasn't MORE!)

I discovered this gem of a film in the "Hot Picks" section at a local Blockbuster Video store. When I read the synopsis, I though I'd probably like it because it's about a rock band. This film marked the first time I'd ever seen Bill Nighy, who was absolutely brilliant as Ray. He really captured the personality of a rocker with a fragile ego who's fresh out of rehab and torn between his feelings of vulnerability and wanting very much to seem completely "together" and able to just go right back to the "good old days" of Strange Fruit's glory years. I feel that this movie is arguably second only to "This Is Spinal Tap" as the best(and funniest) movie ever made about a rock band. I'd highly recommend it to anyone!