{"id":28367,"date":"2024-04-10T22:00:31","date_gmt":"2024-04-11T05:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=28367"},"modified":"2024-04-10T22:00:31","modified_gmt":"2024-04-11T05:00:31","slug":"the-greatest-hits-isnt-a-chart-topper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=28367","title":{"rendered":"THE GREATEST HITS Isn\u2019t A Chart-topper"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Running Time: 94 minutes<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This feature is currently in limited release at movie\ntheaters. It will be available to stream on Hulu April 12th<\/sup>, 2024.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the span of only a short period, music can have immense\npower. It can energize, excite, inspire, as well as deal with relatable themes\nand even create a sense of sadness, longing and a myriad of other emotions. The\nGreatest Hits <\/em>attempts to use songs as a plot device, allowing the film\u2019s\nmain character to relive a handful of important moments in her life. It\u2019s a\nnifty concept, but unfortunately the feature only uses it as a narrative\ndevice. This tune doesn\u2019t end up striking a powerful chord.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Harriet (Lucy Boynton) is a young woman in Los Angeles who\nloves music and yearns to work in the industry. But after the death of her\nboyfriend\/musician Max (David Corenswet) in a traffic accident, the\nprotagonist\u2019s life grinds to a halt. Every time she hears a song that she first\nlistened to with Max, she is transported back in time to the moment they both\ndiscovered it. As a result, Harriet wears large headphones in public to avoid\nhearing random music and having these episodes. She also works on a detailed\nlist of all the songs that cause this effect, hoping that she can use them to\nfind a way to prevent his death. One day, while attending a group grief\ncounseling session, she meets David (Justin H. Min). The two immediately click\nand Harriet begins wondering if she can move on, but fears her condition will\nruin any new relationship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As mentioned, the concept has potential and makes one immediately wonder about all the permutations and changes one might have to employ to avoid strange time-traveling journeys. If one felt it too painful to reconnect with their deceased loved one, should they devote themselves to a different genre of music (perhaps taking up an interest in polka)? Questions might also arise whether or not fresh radio jingles could cause temporary jumps. As you might have already guessed, the script doesn\u2019t do much to explain why any of this is happening (I suppose the universe is simply determined for the protagonist to come to one specific conclusion about their relationship).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Additionally, mileage could have been gained from the protagonist doing everything possible to make their loved one avoid a fateful end. Perhaps insisting the individual take care of a hugely important but imaginary errand? Alas, all that occurs is the lead complaining that nothing she says or does seems to change the fatal outcome for Max.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So instead, most of the sudden time-traveling interludes are\nmerely flashbacks detailing their tragic relationship. They frolic at the\nbeach, visit shops together and sit around talking about songs. In the present,\nthe plot mostly revolves around the depressed, dour character avoiding others\nand obsessively trying to find songs that were important in her relationship,\nall the while being told to snap out of her strange funk by best friend\/disc\njockey Morris (Austin Crute).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The cast are fine, there are some good tunes and even a few low-key sparks between Harriet and remarkably understanding potential romantic interest David, but even this subplot is handled awkwardly. The two cross paths at a counseling session, and so it comes off as a bit odd for them to flirt so quickly before overtly bonding over their mutual admiration for Roxy Music. Harriet also spends time wondering if her relationship with Max would have lasted, diminishing the drama of her predicament.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It all climaxes with a realization from Harriet that feels like a last-minute plot device. But in the end, the film\u2019s greatest crime is wasting its musical potential. As previously mentioned, important songs from the past can be joyful, bittersweet and even cathartic, but in this picture the character\u2019s attitude results in the music frequently coming across as an ordeal to be suffered through. In the end, the overly somber and serious tone used through much of The Greatest Hits<\/em> results in anything but a chart-topper.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Running Time: 94 minutes This feature is currently in limited release at movie theaters. It will be available to stream on Hulu April 12th, 2024. In the span of only a short period, music can have immense power. It can energize, excite, inspire, as well as deal with relatable themes and even create a sense […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":28371,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[215,5288,7314,9474,11400,12768,14425,16258,17310,17879,20884,20885,20886,20887,22916],"class_list":["post-28367","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-215","tag-david-corenswet","tag-fantasy","tag-hulu","tag-justin-h-min","tag-lucy-boynton","tag-music","tag-pop-music","tag-romance","tag-searchlight-pictures","tag-the-greatest-hits","tag-the-greatest-hits-film-review","tag-the-greatest-hits-movie-review","tag-the-greatest-hits-review","tag-time-travel-2"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28367","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=28367"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28367\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=28367"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=28367"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=28367"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}