Love and Fame can’t live in the same place. That’s what the unfolding action in this film would have you believe. Gwyneth Paltrow creates a convincing heroine; this is the second time I have seen her take on a singing part. The first was “Duets,” the karaoke movie where she plays alongside Huey Lewis – the young daughter of an absent father going to great lengths to try to insert herself into his life.
Tim McGraw, curiously enough doesn’t sing in this movie, which makes for interesting counterpoint. His role is much meatier than in The Blind Side, where he had very little dialogue, and seemed one-dimensional. Here he has visible on-screen epiphanies at least twice.
This is a much more mature Paltrow character than I remember seeing. Exhaustion, loss of innocence, the weight of life choices, the price an audience exacts, rising to the occasion and how many times it can be done… all of these are themes in a moving portrayal.
Love and Fame can’t live in the same place. Sounds like a line in a country song.
