Danny Collins - Review

Danny Collins - Review

Academy Award winner Al Pacino stars in what is headlined as being “inspired by a true story” as an aging 1970s legendary rocker in the film named “Danny Collins”.

Essentially, “Danny Collins” the character and the film itself is a pretty straight forward story about a singer who in his advanced age is still living fast with lots of women, drugs, booze and in general just plain old hard living which he knows that he should not be doing. The fact is Danny is stuck emotionally in his youth, doing the same things he did decades ago including singing the same old songs that he is tired of sing. In both cases he knows he just can't seem to give any of these things up.

But one day he gets a surprise from his lifelong manager (Christopher Plummer) that he has uncovered a 40 year-old letter written to Danny by famed Beatle John Lennon that was supposed to be delivered to Danny that he never got. Feeling it is a sign, Danny decides to change his life course to embark on a soul searching heartfelt journey of living a better life style and to rediscover his family that he has not been on good terms. With both goals in mind, Danny feels he finally can be a better father and also reinvigorate his career by hopefully writing some new songs for him to sing on his tour.

Pros: The real strength of Danny Collins is the acting across the board with Pacino leading the way as once again reminds me that he is clearly one of the finest actors ever. He and the film itself have a clever funny streak that runs throughout the film with a sense of maturity and sensitivity for the audience to become genuinely attached to Danny as he goes through the paces of interacting with the many characters ranging from his way too young girl friend, his disconnected biological family and some new found friends he meets along the way at a hotel. It’s the performances of this entire cast that makes Danny Collins fun to watch.

Cons: Danny Collins works the cliché and the emotional heart string tugs a little too much with its predictable execution. That doesn’t mean it’ was all that bad to do so, it’s just I didn’t feel that it was written as well as it could have been to make the story evolve along the sentimental way. 

Conclusion: In spite of some screenplay structural missteps, Danny Collins is pleasant enough to watch. Any while it took me a while to think of Al Pacino as a rocker from a casting stand point, by the end of the film I didn’t care and was genuinely pleased I had seen him and the film.

3 -1/4 Stars