This was a tough one to get through, but the concept is pretty good. Writing was believable, but a little all over the place. Trying to pack as much back story as possible. But I'm a big advocate for "showing not telling". I wish they did more flash backs of the important stuff, instead of just random ones. They could have replaced the club flashback with a flashback of when she fired the band since nothing was really shown. Wish they pushed a little more on the raunchieness of Rox, maybe looked at female punk singers from the 80s for inspo. Some of the lines felt a little forced just to make her sound "edgy". Bellhop scene was a great example, wish we got more of that. But good story over all.
Most of the issues have to do with pacing and editing. Having two intro title montages is never a good sign. Costumes for the flashbacks are super confusing. I didn't even realize the first one was a flashback until the end because the costumes didn't read 90s. 2nd one was even worse because it can read anywhere between mid 70s to 2000s. There is a humming through half the film, which can be distracting. Lighting doesn't read film, more TV or theater (more on that later).
Most the acting is awkward. Limited chemistry between characters. The lead holds the whole movie on her back, so it was wise to have her in 90% of the scenes. The band in general can hold the scene, but their casting ages are all over the place. Seems like you have 3 generations supposedly all from the same, so again, hard to pin point when the flash backs are supposed to be.
Music is VERY theater version of rock. Songs in the beginning make it hard to believe she's supposed to be a rock icon, but they get better at the end. They definitely read more classic rock, not 90s though. Again, what era is this suppose to be? Ending concert goes on for too long. First couple songs made me believe they were a band, after that it was self-serving. Music got more and more soft too, almost Christian rock adjacent.
But this all makes sense when I looked up the actors. They all come from the same theater company in Michigan. Putting the movie into the context of a theater production upped my rating. The main issues this film experiences can be explained away. I hated the pacing of this film, but if it was a play, it would make sense. Costumes made sense because they probably used what they had on hand (80s hair band wigs, 70s accessories, 2000s clothing). Having this back story is really cool and I wish I knew before starting to fully appreciate what it is.
