Looking for honest reviews on movies and series, both new and classic? This week, Odette Parfitt reviews The Greatest Hits on Hulu and lets us know if it’s worth the stream.
The Greatest Hits (2024)
Platform:
Disney+
Basic plot:
After she hits her head pretty hard in the same car crash that kills her boyfriend, Harriet finds she can time travel back to certain points in their relationship through the music she listens to. Then she meets someone new.
How it was probably pitched to the producers:
What if you could time travel using music, but also it just made you sad all the time?
Thoughts:
If you’ve seen the trailer for this movie, don’t let it fool you. Harriet’s situation is not as romantic as it may seem. First of all, she has zero control over when she time travels to see her dead boyfriend Max, which means she has to wear headphones all the time so she isn’t exposed to random music around her, which could trigger the time travel. (The music in question is all music that the couple listened to together.) The whole situation has made her a bit of a hermit. Second, we meet Harriet two years into this madness, and she has become obsessive about finding the right song to take her to the right moment, so she can change the past and save Max.
Enter David, a nice normal dude who is dealing with the loss of his parents but otherwise seems like a drama-free zone.
I’m gonna stop there because I don’t want to give the whole plot away, but it’s an interesting take on grief – and even idealising people we lose – that is still somehow uplifting overall.
Plus points include a decent soundtrack and David Corenswet in a likable role (you know, before he committed the sin of following in Henry Cavill’s footsteps, thereby angering the Internet on a global scale). I would subtract points though, because it did feel like there were a couple of subplots that started but never really got carried through, and because David really seems borderline-unrealistically well-adjusted for someone who needs to attend a grief counselling support group.
Bottom line – is it worth the stream?
I’d say it’s still worth a watch – if the storyline itself is sometimes oversimplified, the talented actors make up for it.
Watch this if you like:
- Connecting to people through music
- Stories of life after loss
- People who wear headphones as part of their outfit
- An obscene number of close-up shots of old record players
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