Hearts Beat Loud (2018)

I have been a fan of Nick Offerman since Parks and Recreation began. I thoroughly enjoyed his book Paddle Your Own Canoe- a sort of memoir/manifesto about living life by your own rules. I follow him on the social medias, and I am quite glad that I do, because he is a funny, thoughtful, caring, and really hates Donald Trump. He gets some good zings in on the Twitter. I'd go as far to say he's a feminist, although I shouldn't speak for someone I don't know. But it's apparent  to me in his posts interviews, and his various writings about his wife, sister, mother, and women who work at the Offerman Wood Shop Plus he loves dogs. And he can pop and lock. Ok, ok, I have a crush on him. Jeez.

Thanks to his Instagram, I had heard about Hearts Beat Loud before it came to my local movie house. It looked like a perfect feel good sort of summer flick I enjoy, so I went the other night and I really loved it!

In Hearts Beat Loud, Frank, (Nick Offerman), is preparing to sell his Record Store and make a big life change when his daughter Sam (Kiersey Clemons) leaves to start Pre-med at UCLA. Frank is that won't-grow-up character we've seen in a gazillion movies. 40 something dude who still wants to be a rock star. But he has responsibilities always threatening to make him act like an adult. His record store, raising Sam after her mother's untimely death, dealing with his aging kleptomaniac mother, and struggling with romance. Sounds like the same old same old, right? WRONG!

Frank and Sam have little jam sessions weekly, and out of one such session, comes a song- a pretty great song- which Frank puts on Spotify, and the rest you have to see for yourself.

What I loved about this movie is how charming Kiersey Clemons is, she did so much with glances, eye rolls, and smiles as we see her embark on a first romance while also trying to get ready to move across the country for school. Nick Offerman is fantastic as the dad who is struggling to hang on to his daughter as she was when she was younger, while knowing she is an adult, and he has to grow up, too. Ted Danson, Sasha Lane, Toni Colette and Blythe Danner round out a terrific cast. This isn't that film that goes exactly like you think it will, but it does go where it should.