Wow, there are some pretty awful things said out there about this lol. It seemed like a perfect partner for the Streisand Star is Born and I wasn’t far wrong. I certainly wouldn’t go as far in damning this as some have – even in the area of Neil Diamond’s “performance” I found nothing to really despair over. People have called it bad acting. I’d say, thank god he didn’t act, because, it’s true, he clearly can’t. What he gives in front of the camera is importantly not acting, and I think compared to a lot of so-called “acting” over the years – even, dare I say, some of Streisand’s stuff in the aforementioned Star is Born, deserves the bad-mouthing more – I honestly have to say, he’s not that bad at all. This is one case where the Kermode “I’d rather an actor who can sort of sing than a singer who can sort of act” rule is well-broken in my eyes, maybe because I’d always rather the writer of the songs sang his own songs rather than anybody else … that this in itself is a whole part of the story here makes Diamond the only honest choice for the part.

The only real problem with this movie is, like A Star is Born, the way it feels so by the numbers over the story. The conflict is shattered the moment Diamond’s father gives him his blessing way too early in the game (I haven’t seen the original of this – yes, spank me – but I thought this familial conflict was like the whole point of the story? lol, here it’s like, “no, no, no … oh, okay …”) ... and as such, the great songs notwithstanding, I have to say I was probably moved more by the Krusty the Clown version on The Simpsons lol …

But the songs are great, and it’s great to see Diamond singing them. It deserves to be repeated how great a double bill this and A Star is Born are too. Despite how disappointed I was with both of them, there’s something about the very idea of their existence that makes me know I’ll still do it again one day, probably more than once. They certainly feel like great movies because of the giants behind them, and there are definitely glimmers of their genius that break through the iffy surface.

I wouldn’t have guessed in a million years that this would be the least interesting of the Boaz Yakin double bill tonight, but yikes … I appreciate Uptown Girls even more now, lol. This reminded me a little of the Barbra Streisand movie Up the Sandbox minus all the surreal stuff that made that movie so much fun. If this one had been made in the 70s and starred Streisand with say Mandy Patinkin in the Christopher Eccleston role – that said, the one positive I can give it is how startlingly convincing he is – then and only then might it have been anything worth recommending. One of the quotes on the DVD cover says, “Highly entertaining” ... I have no idea what movie they were watching.