A love story centering on the connection between music and memory and how they transport us, sometimes literally.
Pam says:
We all have had the experience of hearing a song and having it transport us back to a certain time of our lives. Harriet, portrayed by Lucy Boynton, finds music to take her back to a time before Max (David Corenswet), the love of her life, died. Laden with guilt about the accident that took him away and left her with the residual effects from a traumatic brain injury, Harriet is triggered by music which she feels takes her back in time, attempting to alter her current future life. Searching for the one song that she thinks can do exactly that, she barricades herself into her apartment which looks like it’s decorated by a serial killer. Bestie Morris (Austin Crute) is the only one left in her life who stands by her side while she continues to mourn. But when she meets David (Justin H. Min) at her grief meeting lead by Dr. Bartlett (Retta), perhaps her future can begin.
This is a classic love story, but with the twist of the possibility of time travel and the price that would be paid by changing what’s happened. For most of the film, we question this aspect; is Harriet simply imagining being back in happier times with Max or is she actually there? It’s a question that isn’t answered until the end which keeps us waiting with bated breath. As is indicated in the title of the film, music is at the core of the story on multiple levels and what a compilation of songs this movie has! These songs will also transport YOU as you hear them.
With any love story, the chemistry between our stars is key and Boynton has it with both her male stars. With any recollection of a long-lost love, the sweetness is captured in our memories and that’s what we see as Harriet travels back to relive her moments with Max. It’s the small moments that she cherishes and each song she hears brings her back to those times…sitting on the back patio relaxing, walking the dog, going to concerts. And then the tragic day infiltrates her mind and Harriet loses her control and relives one of the worst days of her life. We believe she loves and loved Max and that enables us to connect with her and her situation.
As Harriet meets her new love, we have hope for her to move forward, but that alter-life keeps knocking on the door. We see the spark of love between the two of them and want them to succeed. It is this chemistry that makes this love story work.
“The Greatest Hits” finds just the right notes to create a compelling story filled with love, life, memories and music.
Check this out on Hulu April 12.
3 1/2 Stars
Chuck says:
I don’t mind a movie that starts in the middle and then explains itself as it goes. Some feel the use of flashbacks are a lazy, manipulative device but if the ultimate revelation in question is clever, I don’t mind being at sea a bit. This is the approach writer/director Ned Benson takes with “The Greatest Hits,” a time travel, rom-com hybrid that lacks the charm or imagination necessary to make such a combination work. With nary a likable character in sight, this tedious 94-minute exercise struggles to create a sense of magic, laboring without success throughout to engage the audience.
Harriet (Lucy Boynton) is a young woman whose life is disarray. Two years ago, the love of her life, Max (David Corenswet) was killed in a car accident, an incident that resulted in her suffering a traumatic cranial injury. On meds and attending grief therapy sessions she refuses to participate in, she wanders through life, her headphones always on to prevent hearing certain songs which prompt intense memories of when she and Max first heard the tune in question. However, when this happens, she’s convinced she’s traveling back through time and is desperate to find the song that will transport her to the moment when she can alter fate and save her lost love’s life.
The question as to if she is actually time tripping or if these moments are a result of her injury is an open-ended one that’s answered far too quickly. Had this been extended throughout, “Hits” might have been an intriguing examination of grief and psychosis. As it is, this is just an excuse for some modest special effects sequences used to ratchet the story back to various points on Harriet and Max’s timeline. It’s a premise with potential but it all comes off as forced and obvious, it being readily apparent that Benson’s intent is to make the viewer shed a tear or three. Being emotionally manipulated at the movies is one of the reasons we go, but when a filmmaker is as blatant as the director is here, it shatters the implicit suspension of disbelief.
The introduction of a new love interest in the person of David (Justin H. Min), a young man struggling with the deaths of his parents, fails to give the movie the spark it desperately needs, though his story is intriguing. There’s no chemistry between Boynton and Min, nor between her and Corenswet either for that matter. The actors do what they can but there’s no shaking the feeling that they are simply going through the motions, their performances lacking energy or urgency, which is reflected in Benson’s lax pacing. “Hits” ends up being a film that’s perpetually out of tune.
2 Stars
