The Movie:

Danny Collins is a rather generic "estranged narcissistic father tries to reconnect with his family after a crisis" dramedy that's held up by endearing performances and filmmaking that attempts a genuine emotional connection with the audience. Well, until the whole thing falls apart with a wholly bland and predictable third act, punctuated by a second act break that's desperate to drum up artificial conflict. At the very least, Al Pacino fans should check it out as another step in a series of interesting choices by the aging legend, who's been dialing down the boisterous persona he rode on since 1993's Scent of a Woman.

Pacino plays the title character, an old rock star who's far from washed-up, who can still fill stadiums, albeit with audiences his age. But hey, don't knock down the senior discount tickets, they still obviously amount to a lot of bread, which fund his lavish rock star life full of pool parties with girls who could be his grandchildren, and his trophy fiancée (Katarina Cas) who could be his daughter, if he became a father in his late 40s. Yet there's an unbeatable ennui that surrounds Collins, the thrill of performing is gone, and he hasn't written a new song in decades. The ennui turns into a full-blown late midlife crisis when he finds a handwritten letter from John Lennon addressed to him.

When he was a respected songwriter in the early 70s, young Collins gave an interview to a reporter from a Creem-like magazine (Nick Offerman, doing his best Philip Seymour Hoffman doing Lester Bangs) and confessed that while he idolized John Lennon, he was afraid of not being able to stay true to himself if he attained Lennon's level of celebrity. Lennon apparently wrote Collins the letter in order to let him know that only he could stay true to himself or not, regardless of his celebrity.

Having read the letter four decades too late, Collins drops all of his performance engagements, leaves his fiancée, and tries to reconnect, or in this case simply connect, with Tom (Bobby Cannavale), his son borne out of unprotected sex with a groupie. Of course Tom initially rejects a father he's never even met, but his pregnant wife Samantha (Jennifer Garner) and their Jerry Maguire-level obnoxiously cute daughter Hope (Giselle Eisenberg) seem to like him. Encouraged by Samantha's positive reaction and a burgeoning relationship with an uptight but refreshingly honest hotel manager (Annette Bening), Collins tries his best to form a relationship with his son.

As predictable as Danny Collins is as far as the story beats are concerned, writer/director Dan Fogelman (Screenwriter of Cars movies and Crazy, Stupid, Love.) at least tries to connect with the audience on a level deeper than the usual trite melodrama with a side of benign family comedy. His attempt to say profound things about life results in some heartfelt and honest moments, as well as annoying ones that lay on a thick layer of blatant symbolism. For example, he never misses a chance to have Collins say "Goodbye Hope" whenever his relationship with his family takes a down turn. You see, his granddaughter's name is Hope, and the character was hoping to connect with his son… The way he uses the letter from Lennon as a signifier for the second act break is also far too obvious.

That being said, Pacino's weary but charismatic take on the aging rock star and his banter with the rest of the cast (The scenes with Bening are especially charming) turns it into a decent dramedy that deserved to be checked out at least once.

The Blu-ray:

Video:

Danny Collins sports a 1080p transfer that stays true to the film's cinematography full of bright colors and evenly lit spaces. As a typical dramedy, Danny Collins is a film that doesn't utilize a lot of contrast and is easy on the eyes. This clean and crisp transfer does the film justice.

Audio:

The DTS-HD 5.1 track that accompanies the film offers very clear dialogue, as well as some power and depth during scenes containing musical performances. Because of the inciting incident in the story, the film contains a wall-to-wall solo Lennon soundtrack, which must have cost half the film's budget to secure. However, I think the tone of the movie is a bit too vanilla to go hand in hand with Lennon's edgier music. In a purely technical sense, the songs themselves are mixed into the soundtrack very well and should make Lennon fans happy.

Extras:

Behind the Scenes: A 3-minute glorified trailer where the cast and crew merely recite the film's synopsis.

Danny Collins Album Covers: A series of fake album covers from the fictional rock star's career.

Final Thoughts:

If you expect an Almost Famous-level study of classic rock in Danny Collins, you'll be sorely disappointed. In fact, the protagonist could have been replaced with any narcissistic absentee father figure, the fact that he's a musician is an afterthought. Yes, it's run of the mill stuff, but at least it's handled with enough compassion towards its characters and story in order to deem it a rental.

Oktay Ege Kozak is a film critic and screenwriter based in Portland, Oregon. He also writes for The Playlist, The Oregon Herald, and Beyazperde.com