Very clichéd - not worth 7.3
First off, I'll say I'm British, and not American - so I haven't got that in-built ignorance to outside cultures. I wasn't around in the 70's, but I do think it was one of the best era's for music (progressive), and to be a young adult. But I found this flick so cliché & formulaic. You'd have to be pretty damn stupid to not guess the plot of the film in the first 10 minutes.
I've probably forgotten a few now but here's some I remember. Call them tributes, but they've been in so many damn films:
-climbing in through the girls bedroom window to evade the parents... how many times has that been done?
-running for a train and then jumping on whilst it's moving. is anyone actually stupid enough to do that irl?
-the short glances to one another from across the room (the daughter and mum both did this more than enough times)
-the impromptu musical performance from the 'slow' guy, and the resulting dancing from the 'toffs'. Ultimate cheese!
-good guy likes cute girl. cute girl dates jerk. girl realises at the end.runs away with good guy
And how many times were they going to shoot the long, pondering pout from Christian Cooke? He gave Derek Zoolander a good run for his money.
The film wasn't bad. Decent performances especially from Tom Hughes, and Ralph Fiennes, but it just wasn't anything special. And considering it was set in the 70's, the musical score was pretty damn awful - the best being David Bowie. Where were Pink Floyd? The Beatles? Yes? Genesis? Jethro Tull? King Crimson? I have to assume the movie was supposed to be set in 1970, when the effects of the 'swinging 60's' hadn't died down.
And as for the 'feel good movie' it was marketed as - I found it pretty damn depressing!
6/10