Hearts Beat Loud

Another snuggly non-movie from director Brett Haley (The Hero), this time about a sad sack musician struggling to connect with his teenage daughter. As widower Frank Fisher (Nick Offerman) prepares to shutter his musty Red Hook record store, his distant daughter Sam is about to leave for UCLA. Her plans become complicated, for lack of a better word, when Frank and Sam’s father/daughter jam session inadvertently produces a Spotify “hit.” Offerman is likable as ever, but it’s asking a lot for him to carry a film, especially one without an ounce of urgency in the narrative. Much of the script feels copy and pasted from Haley’s previous efforts, including the burnout best friend who shuffles in every now and then to drop stony bits of wisdom (Ted Danson plays the role here, although Offerman was the stoner friend in The Hero), but the delightful Kiersey Clemons is a revelation as Sam. D.B