Hard Luck Love Song

Loved this film! Great performances by Michael Dorman and Sophia Bush. Really made me miss home. Wonderful cinema, music, story.

Pool hustler Jesse (Michael Dorman) moves into a low-rent motel in a rough neighborhood. It's a dangerous living. He spots an escort ad in the papers and recognizes something. It's Carla (Sophia Bush) from his past.

It's a grim life. Dorman could be more downtrodden. He smiles a little too much. I do like the first act with its atmospheric danger. The movie takes a slight tonal turn with the introduction of Carla. It may work better if she joins the film sooner and she could go with him on his pool games. Then there is the cop. I can understand the attempt at a different kind of cop character. He's just in the wrong movie. He's slapstick comedy when the movie is a grim dive into the underworld. On the positive side, he's only in two small sections and one can ignore him. All in all, this is a nice vision of a grim life.

It's all about the music. The movie was based on a song's lyrics, and the scenes go from song to song, somewhat telling a story while being dominated by performances and music and scenery. This is a different type of experience, certainly independant. I loved the imagery but felt wanting for substance, which the movie does not appear to be about.

I really loved this movie! I can't say enough good about it! Please go and do yourself a favor and see this one.! 💜 If you like Todd Snider, you will instantly love this movie. So many great references to this amazing troubadour!

The actors were excellent. All of them. The story will draw you in and you will find yourself feeling a lot of different emotions. Spoiler alert, it's a great ending! It will leave you with a smile.

Also, don't forget to watch the credits! There's an awesome performance by Mr Snider doing the song that this film is inspired by!

The details of the characters were very thoughtful, it was spot on! Soundtrack was great, and of course the song that the movie is based on is an excellent tale. The color palette and cinematography was perfect. Overall I can't complain.