Beau Bridges' character of an old timer country great Claude Allen didn't ring true as his very ordinary voice adds nothing to support the conceit. His brother Jeff did a much better job with his songs in "Crazy Heart." If the viewer doesn't buy the Beau Bridge character, the whole movie falls apart.

If the record producer wanted a hit record, he should have released the composer's singing version with nice harmonies which was quite good. He could have given Claude half his earned money if he respected him so much. The ending was soppy with the brother doing a 180 turnaround for the brother character. Not quite sure of how the composer got his song on the radio. Still, the old timer who went for one last stand was quite sad as he couldn't accept that his time had passed.

6.9 stars.

I suppose the story could have been great if perhaps they cleaned up the script and added a bit more consistency. Some of the pieces are missing, so the flow is off. It's like a chess game, missing a rook, the king and a few pawns. It would be tough game. This film can't make up for it. Maybe that's not the best metaphor, nevertheless, there is something missing. The song the story revolves around is pretty good when sung by the young lead male, but whatever rendition Bridges' character sings, cuts it off at the knees. It loses the spark that makes it modern and alive, and it feels more like a b-side from the 70's. The side plot, if that's what you call it, was good, with the two young guys talking and dealing with stuff. The movie starts off really good, to be honest, Bridges kind of makes it a bit of a bummer. I don't know why. Maybe he played the character too well.

(no spoilers, I always mark it that way)

It's an adequate film but it just...the timeline doesn't work. It kept entering my mind while I watched it. The beginning has a couple of guys on stage and I thought, "Be good for the 1970s." Then the car ride before the accident (that could be a spoiler) it appears like an 80s to 90s jeep and then it goes to a woman talking on a phone and another woman standing a bit behind a lamp and I thought, "The 1960s?" Then it said '7 years later' and the main character is holding a Smart Phone. 'Ok', I thought.

Then, the main character's son got into a program at a university in Tennessee but it costs $4,500. The song is okay. I've listened to a lot of country music in my life going back to the 1930s to today, and that song is mildly okay. However, since the story takes place today my thought is: put it on YouTube or Patreon, Amazon Music, Spotify etc., so many options to get one's music out there and that's why this film feels like it's in the wrong time period. If it was set in the 1980s and it went to the 1990s, then, I think the story would make more sense but as is: it just seems out-of-place; I also think it would have been better for Bridges' character, especially at the end. And the brother who got hurt: you see him in the beginning and basically just the end as if the character development was a bit offset. I just think the whole film would have been better in a different time period; and, why do they always have to have a bad guy? The record exec who steals an okay song...

Anyway...