The movie was pretty decent. You really have to like singing to enjoy the film more though. The film has nice colorful characters that keep you interested throughout, but that is to make up for the weak story. Basically the film is about people trying to win a karaoke contest. It does touch base on some of the side stories, but not that strong. The main part of the cast all had their own singing styles. Maria Bello was more female alternative. Andre Braugher with Paul Giamatti were a soul/jazz type. Then you got Huey Lewis and Gwyneth Paltrow as an upset fun type. It was nice to see Huey Lewis sing and I was really surprised by Paul Giamatti's voice. But who stole the show was Andre Braugher. He has the most emotional part of the film and it contains a shivering a cappella version of Free Bird. So a decent little film with some fun singing basically sums up this movie.

This movie is so retarded that it would be hard to find anything really good to say about it if you are looking for a film that has even the slightest pretense of being realistic. None of the characters are drawn from real life. I mean people just do not act the way they do in real life. If this were a comedy that might be acceptable for the sake of getting a laugh, but this pretentious, disjointed work isn't even a black comedy so there's no real reason to accept what you see on screen. None of the people in the movie are very likable. If the lead male character was focused on as someone having a dreadful midlife crisis, I might have overlooked some of the plot silliness but he's not. If you want a by-the-formula movie, full of improbable action and absurd coincidences, vile profanity and needless brief nudity, then spend your time watching this piece of junk.

Writer John Byrum and director Bruce Paltrow ostensibly had a good idea--to catch the fever of semi-professional karaoke singers in action--but maybe this subject might have been better served by a documentary. Byrum's hackneyed plots involving the troubled performers never take off, and Paltrow's staging of the musical numbers is far too slick. How much excitement can you work up when your karaoke singers are lip-synching? Gwyneth Paltrow, playing a child-like woman who is reunited with her estranged father, is a lovely presence, yet hiding her intrinsically smart and savvy personality here does her no favors. The most surprising thing about the picture is that Paul Giamatti can carry a tune, although he's distinctly studio-enhanced, as if the producers were hoping to get a hit soundtrack out of this thing. Small wonder the movie flounders; it's calculated and colorless. *1/2 from ****

I discovered this movie a couple of years ago and was charmed by its fragile characters and beautiful soundtrack that seems to create character depth that the script doesn't. Huey Lewis (Ricky Dean) was, surprisingly, very strong in his role as a reluctant father to Gwyneth Paltrow's character, Liv. While I found some of the acting to be wooden, and the direction was often predictable, there is something that appealed to me - I feel that the characters spoke through the music rather than the narrative, thus lifting the movie to a higher level. A mention also has to go to Braugher and Giamatti who are a delightful combination right up to the heartbreaking climax.