Filled with recognizable actors, this movie - to me - verges on great. The story is - unfortunately - too believable. A crack head mother abandoning her child, a washed up musician, a band together past their expiry date. Probably a tale acted out in real life - daily. Shue has the crack/alcoholic/hooker/or groupie role down pat - but - not to diminish from her acting - and - I think she looked great for very late 40's! Breslin is - again in this role as so many of her others - an actor who I think will be amongst the greats. It is always a pleasure watching Peter Stormare, although he is best as a villain - here - he isn't - but is a great character actor - from Sweden. The remainder of the cast are uniformly superb - a few are on hit TV shows in the past couple of years. All in all, this film just seemed - real.

Okay, so the movie is far from reality and never likely to have incidents such as depicted in this movie transform in real life. Now that I got that out of the way I will tell you what my wife and I thought were the highlights of this melodrama.The relationship that evolves gradually between the two main characters, missing father and roadie rocker Ethan Brand, (Alessandro Nivola), and lost 13 year old daughter Janie Jones (Abigail Breslin), takes place as Janie's drug induced mother Mary Ann Jones (Elisabeth Shue) literally dumps her daughter on unsuspecting rocker bastard father Ethan as he is travelling through the U.S. on his tour bus with his band. Ethan initially rejects the notion that Janie is his daughter, and his emotions get the better of him, as does the booze, as one by one he fights with members of his own band until all that is left on the road is Ethan and his daughter Janie. One of the first relationships to disintegrate and he loses is that of his band member and girlfriend, Iris, played by Brittany Snow. Even his long time road manager, Sloan, played by Peter Stormare, realizes the gig is past its heyday and he decides to move on to greener pastures.So with only guitar and daughter in tow Ethan is forced to play the bar scene to a much smaller audience who does not show the appreciation for his musical talents that Ethan is used to receiving. Spiraling continually downward Ethan boozes it up, until fighting with the local rowdies eventually lands him in the slammer. Now what to do Janie? She's 13 years old stuck in a motel with her dad in the slammer. So Janie uses her intuition and driving skills to somehow get her dad out of jail. Not wanting to spoil the plot any further I will say that the next few scenes are a bit unrealistic but heartwarming for any father and daughter relationship to grow, Janie appears to have some musical talent of her own, and with her dad sobering up real quickly they visit dear old mom for a small loan to get them the start up money needed to get back on the road as a duo. Frances Fisher plays Lily, grandmother to Janie, who gets to meet her grand daughter for the first time. Relationships are starting to form, the musical talents between Ethan and Janie are melding, and then dear old drug addicted mom, Mary Ann (Elisabeth Shue) comes back in to the picture.Okay, so dysfunctional families are part of our culture and always will be, but when heroes come to the rescue and music that warms our heart mellows us, we transform in to a loving family unit that enjoys a good picture even if the story line is not the strongest. I think this is a movie for families to watch and enjoy assuming that your children are well in to their teens. Spoiler alert moms and dads: At the end of the movie, you will be obligated to hug your daughters and tell them you love them even if they have caused you some grief lately. (Or maybe you have caused them some grief?) Either way it is a good watch for the music and warmth that evolves between daughter and father.

I loved this movie.If you talk to people who have seen this movie, or read reviews, you will likely hear two things: 1: The story is an old one (cliche even) and 2: The ending is predictable. To be honest, this is absolutely true. And yet, you should watch this movie. It really is completely wonderful. The technical aspects of the movie are excellent; the acting, script, cinematography, etc... There are EXCELLENT actors and actresses in this movie.My one complaint, if you can really call it that, is the profanity. The language at times was such that I couldn't watch this with my 11 year old daughter. However, to be fair, the profanity wasn't 'gratuitous' in any way. The male lead character is a rock and roll star on tour. As such, things like drinking, drugs, sex, and profanity are expected. To portray a rock and roll band touring small clubs across the country without the use of profanity would make it unreal like a Disney film.The bottom line is this, This is a great movie. It will disturb you a little, break your heart a little, and then warm your heart GOBS.I recommend this movie, big time.

This movie is about a down and out rock star who learns that he has a 13 year old daughter by a drug-addicted ex-groupie, whom, sadly, he doesn't remember. (The story has actually been done before in a terrible 1984 movie (the story line of which was suggested by 'Mick Jagger' (qv) entitled _Blame It on the Night (1984)_ (qv).) Fortunately, that's where the similarity ends as this is a much better film, with respect to both writing and acting. All performances are solid and credible and the viewer doesn't feel (at least as measured by the reaction of the audience at the Tribeca Film Festival) he wasted the price of admission. Ironically, the weakest part of the film is the music: the songs performed are so poor one wonders how the lead character could have become a rock sensation in the first place.