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Photo Credit: The Weinstein Co.
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If you’re looking for a summer romantic comedy that rewrites the genre, then Begin Again is not that film. It’s an ode to falling in love with the soundtrack of your choice – a heartfelt, semi-romantic, self-indulgent and decidedly folksy soundtrack that eschews the sounds of a swelling chorus of violins for the introspection of Carole King. It’s for yesterday’s hippies – and today’s hipsters.

The pair in question in this small-time/bigtime movie is a duo of failures: Greta (Keira Knightley) is a singer trapped in a failing relationship with a musical douche named Dave (Adam Levine, in uber twat mode). Dan (Mark Ruffalo) is a failed music company executive who got the boot and is looking for . . . well, he doesn’t even know. With two such listless, wandering and musically-inclined individuals, it is inevitable that they meet, talk about their mutual love of music, sing a bit, play a bit more, and then, well, fall in love.

Ruffalo and Knightley share an uneven chemistry – she’s somehow both too lively and too dull for him, and so the real star of the film is its music, which is thankfully quite well-done. It’s also a movie about second chances and never giving up – not just on love, but on life – which, sentimental while it may sound, is a welcome relief in the onslaught of big budget summer blcokbusters a la Transformers.

A sweet and unassuming movie which assumes we love sweet music.