Dreamin' Wild reflects gently on family ties, unrealised ambition and the haunting power of music.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Apr 12, 2025

The melodramatics and flashy performance sequences of a typical musical biopic aren't found here.

| Original Score: 7/10 | Jan 28, 2025

Quiet and understated, Dreamin’ Wild is a drama that forgoes the usual music biopic story arc for a story more sensitive to the afterimages that last in our minds, sometimes for decades after the music has stopped.

| Mar 21, 2024

If you want a feel-good film with some good music and terrific acting and directing then I would recommend you check out Dreamin' Wild - both the movie and the album.

| Original Score: 4.5/5 | Sep 26, 2023

Affleck brings a load of baggage with him to any role these days, which effectively adds weight to Donnie’s evident melancholy. In a film so singularly lacking in dramatic conflict, Affleck’s sad face has to do a lot of work.

| Sep 26, 2023

In the central role, Affleck conveys Donnie’s ambivalence toward his musical gifts, which he has learned are as much a source of heartbreak as of joy.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Sep 10, 2023

It’s a lot to pack into a seemingly unassuming little movie, but Pohlad—who also directed 2014’s superb Love & Mercy—pulls it off.

| Sep 3, 2023

"Dreamin’ Wild" genuflects with humble reverence to a true story that achieved two chief artistic outcomes later than they should have, yet still right on time.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Sep 2, 2023

Polhad finds the pathos in all the main players and shows how they feed into each other. The conflict in Dreamin’ Wild stems from good yet flawed people trying to do the right thing in circumstances very few have encountered.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Aug 31, 2023

Casey Affleck shines in the true story about the flipside of success.

| Original Score: B- | Aug 25, 2023

Performances are finely tuned, authentic, and intimate. We are right there in the cabin recording studio. Its sweet, simmering and sometimes withholding nature provides intimacy, strangely.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Aug 25, 2023

Anchored by Casey Affleck’s performance, Dreamin’ Wild’s portrait of a tortured artist is like the music Donnie Emerson performs in the film; thoughtful, gentle and emotionally authentic.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Aug 24, 2023

[The] feelgood story of a long dormant musical dream finally realized was enough to earn major press attention, but is it enough for a feature-length film? Probably not, which is why writer-director Pohlad piled on the melodrama and leaned into clichés.

| Aug 23, 2023

Strong performances from all involved allow this film to feel generally agreeable, even if it meanders a bit during its journey to finding closure. Also, the music is pretty good!

| Original Score: 6/10 | Aug 18, 2023

The critically acclaimed, indescribably magical quality of the music from the original Dreamin' Wild album is remarkably present in this story about the album's journey, too.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Aug 17, 2023

It raises all kinds of familial guilt issues that are really interesting.

| Aug 17, 2023

In some ways this movie is restrained by the fact that it's a true story. If some of that could be let go, a better movie could've been had -- but it is good.

| Aug 17, 2023

Dreamin’ Wild is ultimately about those Americans struggling to be great again and with the perseverance to find their lost promise.

| Aug 16, 2023

Dreamin’ Wild may not be winning any Oscars, but it’s one of those movies that often qualify as “Best Surprises” of the year.

| Original Score: B | Aug 15, 2023

Strong acting lifts up this "based on a true story" of musicians who are rediscovered.

| Original Score: 6/10 | Aug 14, 2023