ozlock
This is, at best, a fairly good TV movie. It is predictable but starts with an interesting premise. It appears that the positive opinions were mostly generated by virtue of Jude Law having been it. It is the ultimate Chick Flick.The actors are rather good. Gretchen Mol was fantastic in "...Betty Page" and is likely to become a super star. Actually she is much more attractive ten years later. Also, the makeup is quite bad.Piven is a class actor of the Chicago school. Although I am not a fan, Martha Plimpton is an OK actor. Jane Adams too is a fine actress.Bottom line, this is a poorly written, shabbily directed movie that is more intent upon wisecracks than real dialog.
gradyharp
MUSIC FROM ANOTHER ROOM was written and directed by Charlie Peters: the film script would benefit from some judicious editing. Yet as a light love story it is fast moving despite diversions in the plot and in general gives some fine actors good screen time.Danny (Jude Law) as a five-year-old lad assisted in the complicated birth of his friend Grace Swan's (Brenda Blethyn) child Anna (Gretchen Mol) and at that moment declared he would marry Anna someday. Twenty five years later Danny returns to Los Angeles from his home in England and encounters the mature Anna who is now engaged to Eric (Jon Tenney), falls in love, returns to the neighbor family of his childhood where Grace greets him with effusive warmth. The family is a dysfunctional one: Anna's sister Nina (Jennifer Tilly) is blind and dependent on Anna; brother Billy (Jeremy Piven) is married to suicidal Irene (Jane Adams); cynical feminist sister Karen (Martha Plimpton) is a man-eater; and the father cares for Grace as she is stricken with a terminal illness. Anna resists Danny, but Danny's influence on the family is like 'music from another room', and results in positive changes in each of the family members: Nina finds love with Jesus (Vincent Laresca), a kitchen worker who introduces Nina to dancing, love, and independence; Grace opens her longing for Anna to experience passion instead of just caring for everyone; and the concept of fate and love and passion is stirred vigorously.Jude Law is his usual appealing self and makes his role credible. Jennifer Tilly does a fine job realizing Nina and her transformation, and Brenda Blethyn gives us a heady dose of Brenda Blethyn, which is always welcome. There are many problems with the film, the most significant one being Gretchen Mol who doesn't take her character beyond paper doll and certainly doesn't seem an adequate reason for Jude Law's unswerving attention. But as a film it works well enough and does provide some food for thought about the true meaning of love. Grady Harp
Jenise Chappell
But it didn't come out right. It's as if they started out to make a serious film and then handed it over to a Wes Anderson type at the last minute. Plot lines that start in a good direction turn unexpectedly goofy. And some side plots that are meant to add humor--Martha Plimpton and her gun, for instance--are simply annoying.Jude Law plays a scrawny bakery delivery boy who doesn't know when to shut up, and Gretchen Mol is the uptight sophisticate of her family who is already engaged to a man who is perfect for her. He drives the right car and bails her family out financially--she needs those things. So when he wants to buy her a book for her birthday instead of a flowered knit cap--well, Gretchen's character isn't the flowered knit cap type, and all the romantic lecturing of Jude's character about the hat vs. the book, however right in theory, doesn't change that. The movie never satisfactorily established why Gretchen would fall for Jude--in fact, the scene (SPOILER ALERT) where Gretchen and Jude get together, and then the next day she can hardly look at him--that was true to character. What happened later was not.The best and most believable characters in the film were the mother, well acted by Brenda Blethyn, and the blind sister (Meg Tilly) and her boyfriend, Jesus. I loved Jesus! One last comment--whoever chose the music for this film should be shot--there's one really bad top-40 pop song that cues in more than once when Jude and Gretchen go for the kiss, and it cheapens the scenes.
potpurry7
The main reason to see this cute film is Jude Law's likable performance as Danny.He out-acts everyone and steals every scene he's in.He plays a lovesick guy out to win the engaged-to-someone-else- girl he helped deliver when she was a baby and he was 5-years-old.He has quite a hurdle of obstacles.His pursuit is gentle,yet persuasive.He's very charming in it,and females will love him.My husband liked this film also and felt it is true-to-life in some ways-how a person pursues someone who could be totally wrong for them.It's not an excellent film.The choice to have Gretchen Moll as Jude's love interest was a bad one.She acts poorly,and there is a lack of chemistry.However Jude's intense stares at her and genuine obsession make the film a real treat. Yes,there are some amusing moments I won't spoil.Another person I enjoyed in this is Martha Plimpton.Her scenes with Jude are funny,and she uses him to solve a problem of her own.The result is actually the funniest scene in the film.I think it's a flawed yet great little movie.
AD
