One More Time

An appealingly low-key dramedy, One More Time follows a struggling, rebellious musician (Amber Heard’s Jude) as she attempts to connect with her famous father, Paul (Christopher Walken) – with the narrative detailing the subdued happenings that transpire over a few days at Paul’s remote estate. One More Time‘s mild success is, it becomes increasingly clear, due mostly to the affable work of its various actors, as writer/director Robert Edwards does an effective job of establishing a core group of compelling characters and filling those roles with better-than-average performances – with, especially, Walken delivering a loose, irresistibly off-the-cuff turn that remains an ongoing highlight in the proceedings. It’s apparent, too, that the movie benefits substantially from Edwards’ easygoing approach to the material, as One More Time, though meandering at times, boasts a handful of impressively compelling sequences that enthrall without resorting to hackneyed conventions (eg an engrossing conversation at the dinner table, Jude’s heartfelt performance at an open-mic night, etc). The lackadaisical atmosphere does, however, ensure that One More Time begins to run out of steam as it passes the one-hour mark, with the wafer-thin plot slowly-but-surely buckling under the weight of a feature-length running time – which paves the way for an anticlimactic finish that’s rather disappointing, to be sure. It’s a fairly minor complaint for a movie that is, for the most part, a lot of fun to sit through, with the impressively strong musical sequences elevating the proceedings on an ongoing basis.

*** out of ****