Music, romance, and time travel – those genres are popular on their own, but together they make for an interesting premise, at least on paper. The trailer lends a bit of a John Carney vibe as music is integral in the story, and the fact that its lead actress Lucy Boynton was in Sing Street, one of my fave Carney-directed movies that’s set in Ireland. Characters using music to cope with loss and grief is a familiar trope, but writer/director Ned Benson throws something unexpected where the movie’s lead Harriet, a former record producer, is transported to the past when she hears certain songs. I don’t mean in a way that the music brings back memories in a vivid way, but Harriet gets physically transported to a certain point in her past.

When she travels to the past, Harriet gets to relive the moments she had with her dead boyfriend Max (David Corenswet) whom she lost in a car accident, but only for as long as the song is playing. The thing with time travel is that it has to follow a certain rule that we the audience can accept to go along with the story. Let’s just say that Benson is fluid and loose with that ‘rule’ and it can get a bit baffling as to how it actually works. Harriet’s seen wearing noise-canceling headphones everywhere she goes because hearing certain songs would cause her to travel through time, which takes the form of seizures in real-time. Yet weirdly she’s still able to hear people talking around her.

Harriet just can’t let go of Max and takes on ‘dwelling on one’s grief’ to extremes as she’s obsessed with finding the right song to return to the exact moment just before the accident in the hope of preventing it from happening. Harriet’s DJ bestie Morris (Austin Crute) encourages her to move on, it’s been two years after all. When Harriet meets David (Justin H. Min) at a grief support group, the two form a tentative relationship. Despite that attraction, Harriet’s unable (or unwilling) to let go of Max, or perhaps her idealized version of him as he’s presented like a dreamy prince charming in a fairy tale (feels even more so as Corenswet has been cast as the next Superman). The romance between them feels artificial, and their supposedly romantic memory plays out like schmaltzy wedding jeweler commercials.

While Boynton is a good actress, based on the movies I’ve seen her in, this role didn’t quite stretch her talent. It doesn’t help that I struggle to connect with Harriet, preventing me from fully investing in her journey. I do enjoy seeing Harriet and David bonding over music, which is the highlight of the film. Min has a likable presence so I appreciate that Benson gives David a compelling arc that honors his Korean heritage. David and his sister Edie (Andie Ju) are trying to figure out what to do with his parents’ antique store, which somehow factors into Harriet’s time-traveling journey.

Overall the movie doesn’t quite sweep me off my feet despite the intriguing promise, as Benson’s script is held back by so many hackneyed genre trappings. Do we need another rom-com with a wisdom-spewing gay best friend?? There are too many implausible contrivances, which is a stretch even in a time travel movie, especially in the scene toward the end when Harriet has to finally decide between her past and present. Thankfully Boynton and Min still manage to make that scene pretty emotional.

What Benson does right is effectively show music’s profound effect on our emotional states and even influence one’s emotional destination. Given the subject matter, there are plenty of songs used in the movie though I don’t remember most of them afterward save for I’m Like a Bird by Nelly Furtado. Overall The Greatest Hits doesn’t always hit the right notes but it’s enjoyable enough to pass for a weekend viewing that makes you reminisce on one’s favorite song that holds a particularly nostalgic power.

This movie will stream on HULU on April 12

Have you seen THE GREATEST HITS? I’d love to hear what you think!

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