Sometimes you just need a feel-good movie, and, right now, Hearts Beat Loud is that movie.
This heartwarming story takes place in Brooklyn the summer before Sam (Kiersey Clemons) heads off to college at UCLA. Her widower dad, Frank (Nick Offerman), is going through his own transitions as the record store he owns is going to have to close, his aging mother (Blythe Danner) is suffering from dementia and he’s dreading his soon-to-be-empty nest.
Sam is excited to go off to study medicine but she’s also a talented songwriter. One of Frank’s greatest joys are their father-daughter jam sessions, and he records their original song and secretly uploads it to a music streaming service, where it becomes a surprise hit.
Frank encourages Sam to take a year to stay home and pursue a career in music with him. “We’re not a band, Dad,” she reminds him, unknowingly providing him with the band’s name. The idea becomes more tempting, though, as she meets Rose (Sasha Lane), who just might be the girl of her dreams.
There is so much to love about this film, from Frank and Sam’s relationship to Sam’s blossoming love interest (how great to see a movie in which the young gay characters are female, and no big deal is made about any of this. THAT is how the world changes.) to the music itself. Toni Collette and Ted Danson round out a perfect cast as Frank’s friends in a Brooklyn neighborhood so homey, it feels like an edgier version of a small town.
Offerman and Clemons have an easy, natural chemistry and, thanks to all of its down-to-earth actors, Hearts Beat Loud has such a comfortable feel to it, you just fall into it and let it take you away.
It’s a coming of age story and a coming of middle age story. It’s the perfect soundtrack for summer.
Leave a Reply