[yasr_overall_rating]
A New York City crooner plots his comeback.
Actors don’t always age gracefully. Fortunately, it appears Christopher Walken has, as he impresses in “One More Time” as romantic crooner Paul Lombard. The same cannot be said, however, of Paul, who is a washed-up and selfish aging musician desperate to be relevant again. His daughter, Jude (Amber Head), is a struggling thirty-something who is evicted from her New York City apartment after failing to pay rent and is forced to shack up with Paul and his latest wife (Ann Magnuson) at their house in the Hamptons.
Immediately, the dysfunctional nature of Jude’s extended family becomes apparent. She has an uptight, controlling sister (Kelli Garner) who is married to an affable ex-boyfriend of Jude’s (Hamish Linklater). It is quickly revealed that Paul has lived the stereotypical rock star lifestyle, complete with several failed marriages, poor relationships with his children, and a nagging desire to somehow get back into show business. In pursuit of his august goal of a musical comeback, Paul has penned a single that is earning early positive reviews from producers.
“Just because you can’t be someone new doesn’t mean you can’t do something new,” says Jude to her father at the dining room table. While ostensibly directed Paul’s attempted comeback, Jude is actually summing up the film’s thesis. Over the course of “One More Time,” there isn’t a terribly substantive amount of character development, but perhaps that is the point. Jude, for example, will always be the insecure stoner who inherited her father’s gifted voice – but that doesn’t mean she can’t reinvent herself in some other way. Paul will probably always be more concerned with his career than his family, but that doesn’t mean he can’t find ways to incorporate them into his life – and he does, as the film goes on.
While Walken’s and Heard’s performances as the two principals at the center of a maladjusted father-daughter relationship are what carry the plot forward, the rest of the cast effectively rounds out the film. While a bit one dimensional, the extended Lombard family is a delight to watch interact. It would have been nice to see Tim (Linklater) expanded beyond his role as the prototypical “nice guy,” or for Jude’s sister Corinne (Garner) to have been given a little more depth and purpose, but the cast did a fine job strengthening a script that feels a bit incomplete.
“One More Time” clocks in at a little over ninety minutes. It is a strong character-driven drama, but does not offer much else beyond that. The dialogue is engaging, but we rarely get to see what life is like for the Lombards beyond Paul’s house in the “poor part of the Hamptons,” as he calls it. And we don’t get to see much of Paul’s comeback, either: just a small after party when he debuts his new single while opening for a Flaming Lips show. The film would have been much more fulfilling by more effectively tying the characters to the outside world.
That said, Walken and Heard make “One More Time” worth watching for their performances alone. Christopher Walken fits the role of family patriarch masterfully, while Amber Heard makes Jude a sympathetic and relatable character. In an industry that is all too focused on superheroes and explosions, a well-acted drama is worth anyone’s time.
In theaters & On Demand April 8th
