Danny Collins, an unconventional film that you will enjoy

A good sleeper movie is a great thing to discover. It’s the film that went in and out of the theater relative quickly and for one reason or another never built up too much buzz. Your expectations are low to non-existent about the film. It’s all the more surprising when after the film, even when not grading it on a sleeper scale that it stands on its own and is wholly enjoyable on many levels.  Danny Collins is a sleeper of a film that’s difficult to categorize, but is refreshing to watch and one that adults who are tired of the predictable will enjoy more than they think they will.

“It’s like Music & Lyrics”, I said to my wife when we were about to watch it. In reality Danny Collins is about a prodigy musician and songwriter in the 70’s who achieved massive success, but has been resting on the greatest hits tour and not writing anymore. He’s got a girlfriend that’s one-third his age, a huge house and a manger who is his best friend, but he’s not happy.

On his birthday his manager gives him a letter that John Lennon wrote to him, but that Danny Collins never received. The letter offers hope and encouragement to his songwriter side, while addressing the pressures of being a pop star and providing income to his family. The letter motivates him to go to New Jersey to temporarily live in a Hilton while writing songs.

He chose that location because it’s close to his adult son that he has never met. His son is resentful and his family is warm, but fully not on Collins’ side. Thrown into the mix is Annette Bening who plays a manager at the Hilton.

The movie is kind of a Trojan horse though as a large percentage of it is not about Danny Collins and his songs. It weaves between his friendship with Bening, the relationship with his son and what his future holds in store for him. The film is non-traditional is the drama/rom-com field too because it flips from both categories with such ease you’re not really sure what to call it.

Is it about the aging rock star trying to make amends? His courtship of someone who is approximately the same age as him? Maybe it’s about him trying to get a new hit song?  At times Danny Collins is each of those things until it focuses in on one of them and you realize that was the soul of the film all along. As a viewer you know that the film is working because when the film intentionally goes to the old stereotype of where the character is going because of his flaws it stumbles. It does this to let the character know that he’s a schmuck and that’s not what he should be doing.

Danny Collins is also very fun to watch. Al Pacino is enjoyable as the aging rock star trying to figure out what to do. Annette Bening has some fabulous interplay with Pacino, Christopher Plummer as the manager adds a nice dimension as his rock. Jennifer Garner and Bobby Cannvale as Collins’ son and wife are believable, real and funny in their roles too.

The film is based on a true story. At the end of the film they have an interview with the songwriter that it is based on. The writers tweaked the story and the circumstances just a little bit. However, once you see who the story was based on and compare that to the movie you want to re-think the entire film and that person’s career in your mind.

Danny Collins is rated R for language, drug use and brief nudity.