Review: Danny Collins

Al Pacino plays the title rock/popstar a long way from his 70s heyday and now the partying, the drugs, and the casual sex are making him look an embarrassment. He has also lost all passion to perform his usual schtick, as his one insipid hit ‘Baby Doll’ appears to be all his ‘fans’ want to hear now. One day his long-suffering manager (Christopher Plummer) gives him a letter that had been somehow lost for 40 years and never delivered to Danny. It’s a response to a letter that Danny wrote at the time…to John Lennon, asking him for advice. Overwhelmed by the admittedly too-late response from the long-dead Lennon, Danny decides some changes are in order. He moves out of his house, ditches his druggie trophy girlfriend and checks into a ritzy hotel in Jersey. There he hopes to visit his long-estranged son (Bobby Cannavale) and connect. The embittered Cannavale, now married to a calm and sensible Jennifer Garner and father to an ADHD-afflicted daughter (with another baby on the way), is not remotely pleased to finally meet the father he never had (His mother was one of Danny’s casual flings). However, Danny is determined to make right. Meanwhile, he also tries to melt the heart of singularly unimpressed hotel manager Annette Bening. Melissa Benoist and Josh Peck are Bening’s well-meaning but dopey hotel staff whom Danny tries to pair up.

 

If you can get past the (partially intentional) absurdity of Al Pacino attempting to sing and jive on stage, this 2015 flick from writer-director Dan Fogelman (co-writer of “Cars” and “Last Vegas” in his directorial debut) is actually pretty enjoyable, if formulaic. Loosely inspired by a true story (Just the letter part, really, but even then the real guy was British and had a different name), Pacino may look and sound ridiculous when on stage singing songs in the vicinity of Neil Diamond meets Wayne Newton (by way of a poor man’s Rod Stewart), but he pretty much convinces otherwise. He’s believable as a washed-up guy who has made a lot of mistakes in his life and might still have a couple more mistakes up his sleeve, whilst trying to make a minor career comeback. The central hook (based on a true story) is really interesting, even if Fogelman should be raked over the coals for ruining an otherwise amazing moment of Pacino reading the long-lost letter, by underscoring it with John Lennon’s ‘Imagine’. I mean come on, it’s not worthy of that grandeur, surely. Subsequent Lennon songs on the soundtrack also grate somewhat.

 

The supporting cast here is terrific, with Christopher Plummer excellent as always (stealing his every scene through effortless charm), a likeable Annette Bening comfortably fitting into a kind of spinster-ish role, and Jennifer Garner just being the sweetest and loveliest person in the whole damn film, even when playing someone who is trying not to be sweet and lovely to someone who may not deserve it. Meanwhile, Melissa Benoist only has a small role here, but is so absolutely adorable that she steals her every scene. She might just become a big star one day if she can get off TV. Bobby Cannavale, meanwhile, is perfectly cast as the estranged son.

 

I’m surprised the film bypassed theatres in Australia, as it certainly doesn’t deserve to be lumped in with other Direct-to-DVD Pacino stuff as “88 Minutes” and “The Humbling”. It’s a much better film than that, if not quite as worthy as it seems to think it is. Sure, it’s corny and clichéd, but it’s an easy watch with an enjoyable cast. If you can accept Al Pacino as a washed-up minor rock/popstar and excuse the pretentious over-abundance of John Lennon songs on the soundtrack, this is pretty solid stuff. You won’t remember it a couple of months from now, but even with Pacino’s slight miscasting he’s still good, and the supporting cast is particularly terrific. It needed more Christopher Plummer and Melissa Benoist, however.

 

Rating: B-