Song One

Like a watered-down cover of John Carney's Once or Begin Again, writer/director Kate Barker-Froyland's feature debut is a moist-eyed musical romance in a minor key. Anne Hathaway stars as Franny, an earnest student returned to New York when her busker brother (Ben Rosenfield) is left comatose following an accident. After she tracks down indie-folk star James Forester (Johnny Flynn) to help heal him through music, desire blooms over the hospital bed. Mistaking slight for subtle, Barker-Froyland fails to hit the emotional notes needed to make this icky fling sing. Flynn's halting renditions of tunes written by indie-rock duo Johnathan Rice and Jenny Lewis don't help - no matter how strenuously Hathaway gazes at Flynn while he performs, his underpowered delivery hardly stirs life-or-death feelings. With cameos from Mary Steenburgen and various real-life alt-rockers (Sharon Van Etten, Dan Deacon) striking the most sparks, this is one of those occasions where the support acts steal the show.