This movie starts out like gangbusters with an innocent welcome back to class speech after a summer break in music class by their young teacher only to have a young intruder come into class and shoot the place up. It was a shocking moment that sets up the movie for a young pair of sisters who survive the attack. One of the gals, who has a talent for music turns the situation into a tribute song and when it ultimately becomes a big hit, her dad takes her into the business and makes her a pop star. That part of the story I found interesting and I only wish they could’ve stayed with that. Flash forward to later on when she is 31 (Natalie Portman) and has her own kid. Another tragedy happens, off screen that affects her personally. At this point, she’s a pop superstar. She also becomes a very unlikable person and much different than the young girl we saw at the beginning of the film. Some of it is from the influence of her dad (Jude Law) and much of it is from her own malition. I found watching her tedious. She was also played as a completely different person which I found distracting mainly due to a tough dialect they gave her. It just didn’t fit. The whole movie seemed disjointed and all over the place. The movie concludes with an extended pop concert sequence that I wish was cut to maybe a song or 2, but went on forever. I didn’t see where the director was going with it. The performance by Portman is really good as always, but I didn’t care for this picture.
Rating (**)
Eric at the Movies 