Pacino is a total rock star in 'Danny Collins'
There's something endearing about a movie that opens with a candid disclaimer.
Danny Collins (** ½ out of four; rated R; opening Friday in select cities) introduces itself with: "The following is based on a true story, a little bit."
It's 1971 and singer/songwriter Danny Collins (Eric Michael Roy) has made a remarkable first album. In an interview, he's asked who has inspired him. John Lennon, he says. When the journalist (Nick Offerman) predicts he'll become a big star, the sensitive young musician looks terrified.
Cut to 40 years later. Collins (Al Pacino) has indeed attained stardom. His music consists of catchy, throwaway pop ditties that mature audiences love to sing along with. After that first album, his creativity all but dried up. He went on to record other people's songs, gave zealous performances and got rich.
At times, his song style and overall mien have a Neil Diamond vibe, though he's meant as more of a vapid rock star. Mostly, he's the caricature of a sellout. Before a concert, he sprays on a tan, corsets his paunch, snorts a line of cocaine, dons gold chains and a fake smile and sprints onto the stage. His signature moves are outsized and corny, as are his tunes.
Yet he loathes himself more than we possibly could.
His manager, Frank (Christopher Plummer), gives Collins a present that sets the story in motion.
It's a letter to Collins from Lennon, written four decades earlier. Sent to the journalist who wrote that initial profile, it ended up in the hands of a collector.
Lennon's letter encourages the singer to stay true to himself, and offers his phone number, should he want to talk. Collins, pushing 70, wonders how his career might have been different if he had connected with Lennon.
Like an uneven album, the movie has some harmonious, authentically lilting moments and other off-putting ones.
Pacino can be charmingly self-deprecating and sardonically funny, until he begins mugging and raising his voice histrionically. A few photos of the young Pacino (superimposed on album covers) remind what a subtle actor he used to be. It's oddly fascinating how he evolved into someone who can be so over the top.
But this is one of his better roles in years, bolstered by chemistry with a great cast of supporting players. Perhaps the part of a big star who finds himself going through the motions later in life resonates with him.
Pacino and Plummer have an easy rapport, with impeccable comic timing as they discuss Collins' choices in women (age-inappropriate) and his yearning to rekindle his creative mojo.
Also delightful is Pacino's connection with Mary (Annette Bening), a down-to-earth hotel manager at the suburban New Jersey Hilton he moves into. It's a pleasure to watch a pair of pros tentatively flirt, in a one-step-forward, two-steps-back fashion.
He also has some terrific moments with Tom (Bobby Cannavale), the son he never knew, and daughter-in-law Samantha (Jennifer Garner).
Inspired by the story of singer Steve Tilston — who received a letter from Lennon in 2005, 25 years after the former Beatle was murdered outside his New York apartment — it's mostly the invention of writer/director Dan Fogelman, whose dialogue is often spot-on. The film is beautifully punctuated by Lennon's best post-Beatles songs.
The story looks as if it's headed for a cloyingly life-affirming resolution, then unexpectedly hits the brakes. Though occasionally contrived, in its more low-key, honest moments, Danny Collins rings out with emotional resonance.