Every week, your friends at Culture Blues get together to watch a movie from their Netflix Instant queue. Then, they answer a series of discussion questions while jamming to their favorite records. This is The Instant Movie Club.
This week we're watching The Music Never Stopped, where JK Simmons stars as a father that reconnects with his estranged, brain-tumor afflicted son Lou Taylor Pucci through classic rock.
Next week: Rango. After literally a full year of anticipation, the Culture Blues editorial team will finally tackle the surefire animated classic. Starring Johnny Depp as the titular lizard.
Spoilers below! (Hint: The Music DOES stop)
If someone is looking for a family friendly drama that isn't just fluff, would you recommend The Music Never Stopped?
Jeremiah White: Sure. I was never all that invested, but it was kind of nice to see a movie handle some difficult issues while still being something I think parents could show their kids. It moves along at a decent pace, it's not overly sappy, and the acting, writing and directing all display a modesty that makes the material more palatable. The themes of acceptance and bridging generational gaps are too broad and trite for closer inspection, and Simmons' abrupt change of heart doesn't feel earned. But hey, dads shouldn't be such dicks, right? I will admit, when they brought that boombox out at the funeral, The Music Never Stopped almost got to me... until Lou Taylor Pucci's uncontrollable sobbing totally killed the mood.
Jeff Hart: No one is going to ask me for a family friendly drama recommendation. I mean, what is the Family Channel even for if you have to ask me that question? Because I don't know. I totally disagree with Jeremiah that The Music Never Stopped isn't overly sappy. It's unbearably sappy. Nearly every scene is punctuated by a big moment of self-discovery for Simmons, or else Pucci pulling his stupid tumor-face that's supposed to make us sad for him. I don't think "family friendly drama" has to be synonymous with "telegraphed tearjerker," so no, I would not recommend The Music. What movie would you recommend to your mom on a rainy Mother's Day that you don't intend to visit on, and also her husband has just died and you sort of dislike her? The Music Never Stopped.
Concerned as it is with the music of the 60s, and featuring numerous flashbacks, how well does the film do at capturing that era?
Jeff Hart: It's like a time capsule of clichés. It's exactly how I imagine a rejected Wonder Years script where Kevin gets a brain tumor would look. The film's idea of creating a convincing time and place is to pepper the dialogue with hippy-dippy standards like "far out." And Pucci's rants about the virtues of his music are overly sanitized and suburban, even if he does at one point burn an American flag. Ugh.
Jeremiah White: I don't understand. Do you think that The Wonder Years didn't do a good job of capturing the 60s? Or is the script rejected because it doesn't accurately portray the time period? Because the brain tumor itself seems like it would be enough. Anyway, comparing it to hypotheticals is unnecessary because I bet it looks a whole lot like The 60s miniseries from 1999. But yeah, The Music Never Stopped doesn't really bother "capturing" any. They just employ a parade too familiar signifiers. They really took the easy route as far as "transporting" viewers to the 60s.
YUCKY!
Pucci, real age 26, plays everything from a teenage band leader to a 35 year old homeless man. How's that work out?
Jeremiah White: Not too well. The problem isn't really with Pucci's acting ability or the flashback scenes. In the present, however, he just looks kind of silly with that lumberjack beard pasted on. He doesn't look 35, and even worse his face doesn't convey the painful legacy of years spent on the street. He just looks like a kid with a fake beard. It's just one of the things that makes it hard to view The Music Never Stopped as anything more than a theatrical Hallmark Hall of Fame movie.
Jeff Hart: That beard is so gross. If there's a villain in this movie, it is Pucci's beard. Anyway, he looks pretty ridiculous in his teenage scenes also. None of it works. Like Jeremiah, I wouldn't put any of the blame on Pucci, whose work I usually enjoy. He does his best with some extremely weak material. It's just not good enough.
If you had a brain tumor, what music would bring you back to your treasured formative memories?
Jeff Hart: Ugh, just pull the plug.
Jeremiah White: I plead the fifth.
Tagged as: family drama, jk simmons, lou taylor pucci, needs more schillinger, the music never stopped 