{"id":46965,"date":"2020-06-08T20:48:16","date_gmt":"2020-06-09T00:48:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/?p=46965"},"modified":"2020-06-08T20:48:26","modified_gmt":"2020-06-09T00:48:26","slug":"the-high-note-movie-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/2020\/06\/the-high-note-movie-review\/","title":{"rendered":"The High Note \u2013 Movie Review"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Bob Garver<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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            \u201cThe High Note\u201d is the latest would-be theatrical release got go straight to On Demand. It\u2019s arguable that it should have gone straight to On Demand, since it might not have been able to cut it in theaters. I know stars Dakota Johnson and Tracee Ellis Ross have their fan bases, but this middling showbiz movie was going to get squashed by whatever summer blockbuster was being pushed that weekend. Likewise, it probably can\u2019t expect the same On Demand success that \u201cTrolls World Tour\u201d and \u201cScoob!\u201d enjoyed, since those franchises had sizeable built-in audiences, but it surely will enjoy a modicum of success playing the \u201conly new game in town\u201d angle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            Johnson stars as Maggie Sherwoode, the overworked assistant to music superstar Grace Davis (Ross, playing a character she insists is not based on her mother Diana Ross, but comparisons are unavoidable). Maggie is happy to serve Grace and bask in her presence, but she wants to do more in the music industry, specifically become a producer. She\u2019s outspoken on steps Grace should take in her career, which angers Grace\u2019s manager Jack (Ice Cube), who wants the star to settle into a financially-secure but creatively unfulfilling Vegas residency. She further angers Jack by offering Grace a recording of one of her greatest hits that she produced personally, which Grace prefers to the one produced by Jack\u2019s arrogant high-profile choice (Diplo). Jack chides Maggie for using Grace to further her own career as a producer, even though he\u2019s being equally selfish in his management career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            In her sparse free time, Maggie meets a talented singer named David (Kelvin Harrison Jr.) and decides that she wants to produce his music. She lies and says she\u2019s a professional producer (the amateur work she did on that one Grace track does not count), and he agrees to confront his performance anxiety in order to take a shot at his dream. It should go without saying that Maggie and David\u2019s interest in one another goes beyond music. It should also go without saying that this is the kind of movie where the main character\u2019s lies and arrogance eventually catch up to her and she has to rebuild her relationships with both Grace and David. Does she have the hard work and determination to pull it off? Did we see her working hard for Grace early in the movie?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            Johnson is playing exactly the kind of character you\u2019d expect for a movie like this, but the real draw here is Ross. For most of the movie, she plays exactly the kind of character I expected as well: a kooky diva (she\u2019s not quite clear on the concept of getting food via drive-thru) who\u2019s usually nice, but has little tolerance for dissent or failure. She\u2019s humanized toward the end when she realizes that she needs to let go of some arrogance of her own, and I was impressed with Ross in these scenes. I was also impressed by her singing, which is merely alluded to in early stages of the film and caused me to question if Ross was cast for her ability to play a celebrity and not her ability to play a singer. All was well by the end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            \u201cThe High Note\u201d is a light, inoffensive, mostly-predictable movie, save for one sharp turn that seems like a cheat. I\u2019ll be surprised if Ross doesn\u2019t get nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Actress \u2013 Musical or Comedy (assuming that this non-theatrical movie qualifies for a Golden Globe and they even give out awards for this year). This movie isn\u2019t going to rock anybody\u2019s world, but if you\u2019re in the mood for soft and stable, it\u2019s a fine choice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grade: C<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe High Note\u201d is available On Demand through streaming services and likely through your local cable provider. The film is rated PG-13 for some strong language and suggestive references. Its running time is 113 minutes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Bob Garver             \u201cThe High Note\u201d is the latest would-be theatrical release got go straight to On Demand. It\u2019s arguable that it should have gone straight to On Demand,… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":46966,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[108],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46965"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46965"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46965\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46966"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46965"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46965"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46965"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}