Despite the delicate shadings Hathaway brings to the role, Song One moves inexorably from wan to wearying.

Full Review | Original Score: 1.5/4 | Jan 29, 2015

There are no real surprises here, just lives played out quietly and succinctly under the seductive spell of music.

| Jan 23, 2015

In her feature debut, writer/director Kate Barker-Froyland tends to tiptoe away from the dramatic high notes that audiences often crave and comes up a stanza or two short from a fulfilling resolution.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Jan 23, 2015

Starts off as a singularly strong slice-of-life drama before dissipating into thin air.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Jan 23, 2015

Anyone with the slightest allergy to emo-tinged millennial attitudinizing should steer clear.

| Jan 23, 2015

Commendably, Ms. Barker-Froyland resists the urge to tidy up loose ends. And if her leads remain locked in a romance-novel connection ... at least it's one in which the smart girl gets the boy.

| Jan 22, 2015

It seems thin despite its first-rate cast, which includes two Academy Award winners.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Jan 22, 2015

Take away the Brooklyn chic and the medical emergency, and "Song One" is a pretty good study-hall daydream.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Jan 22, 2015

Like the music, which is easy on the ears though never catchy, the movie doesn't stick with you. Once it's over, it's gone.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Jan 22, 2015

Barker-Froyland has more than romance on her mind, and she crafts a nuanced ending to the story that feels right. We just wish we could have gotten to know these folks a little better along the way.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Jan 22, 2015

Loving the movie is out of the question - there simply isn't enough here - but writer-director Kate Barker-Froyland's feature debut is certainly a likable effort.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jan 22, 2015

Not enough happens in Song One for the movie to really qualify as unpredictable, but it deserves credit for a steadfast avoidance of melodrama in a story that practically begs for it.

| Original Score: B- | Jan 22, 2015

"Song One" makes no grand promises beyond the moments these people share, but those are intimately rendered and well worth celebrating.

| Jan 22, 2015

Captures a similar, unselfconscious beauty in the way music can make sense of big, ungainly emotions - as James puts it, "for three to five whole minutes."

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jan 21, 2015

It all seems like low-key riffing, rather than a movie that makes any cohesive statement.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Jan 21, 2015

He's got writer's block, she's waiting out the brother's coma, and the audience is left to wait out the inevitable resolution to both hoary plotlines.

| Jan 21, 2015

Fading out long before it's able to cohere into anything memorable, Song One has its heart in the right place (on its sleeve) -- it's just in desperate need of a few strong hooks.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Jan 20, 2015

The mellow chemistry between Hathaway and Flynn fits the mood of the film, even if their characters' tentative relationship could use more tangible conflict. A touch more humor wouldn't have hurt, either.

| Jan 20, 2015

This snapshot of catharsis follows a familiar trajectory, but Kate Barker-Froyland refreshingly resists elevating her characters' relationship to the level of grandiose.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Jan 18, 2015

Franny's an enigma when Song One begins, and I can't say that she comes into sharp focus even by the conclusion. For a first-timer, Barker-Froyland is confident enough to let that mystery linger.

| Original Score: 7/10 | Jan 30, 2014