Based a little bit on the true story of a songwriter, Steve Tilston, from the 70s, comes a dramedy about Danny Collins (Al Pacino) a fading rock star who receives a birthday gift from his longtime manager (Christopher Plummer.) The gift is a letter written by John Lennon to Danny Collins back in 1971 asking to meet with him and offering musical advice. Collins never received the letter as someone infiltrated it and sold it off to a collector.
Reading the well wishes and looking back on his ghost-of-Ebenezer-Scrooge past, Collins wonder if life might have turned out differently if he had known about the letter and taken John and Yoko’s invitation. Perhaps his music would have been more like Bob Dylan instead of Neil Diamond with his similar ‘Sweet Caroline’ song called ‘Hey Baby Doll.’ The sliding doors of his life kick in and he sees what might have been instead of his three divorces, a fiancée half his age,and a life of booze and parties. So he decides to cash it all in, clean up his act, and oh by the way, go find the son he lost long ago.
Off on Collin’s roadtrip he checks into a New Jersey Hilton and falls for the hotel manager (Annette Benning) who encourages him to write new music. Afterall, he hasn’t written any good material in thirty years. He finds the son, (Bobby Canavalle), his daughter-in-law (Jennifer Garner) and his sweet granddaughter (Giselle Eisenberg) and that’s when the water-works ensue. The grown son is judgmental and righteous, but we soon find out he’s hiding something more that what he perceives as his perfection.
If you have regrets…god knows I do…you’ll well up in tears for a good last hour of the film…that lump in your throat and sting in your eyes moving along with ever scene. Pacino shows he’s still got what it takes. And what a range…in this he moves from Scarface to Barry Manilow…damaged but full of humility.
It’s an emotional journey, a bit – no a lot – with contrived moments overflowing into melodrama, but who cares. It’s pure enjoyment. And you’ll leave the theater reflecting on what you might change immediately.