Good story, Not enough for a whole film

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. The storyline and the music brought back fine memories (I was almost the same age in the same time period--and oh how the music took me back). In this the script was VERY successful in conjuring a specific time and place. Although I was in the United States rather than Wales, I would have to say our general teen experiences of the times were pretty similar on both sides of the Atlantic. We certainly experienced that same raging uncertainty of being a teen of any time period, but ours was greatly amped up by the extraordinary social upheaval of the 60s and 70s, which could only serve to exacerbate the general fear of what comes next in anyone's teens. This anxiety would be even more potent in a region with rampant unemployment and open class warfare (not to mention the ongoing clash in Ireland of the time). The excellent use of music in this film brought out qualities in the songs that were lost when streamed out on the radio waves among the popular playlist of the day, and certainly threw them into a new light, with nuances I'd never before considered. Very effective and in some places, positively poignant. I thought the choices of music were excellent; so much so that I could have easily enjoyed much more of it and more of the film in turn, just on that alone. To be truthful, the movie really could have used another half hour or more, just to flesh out the more important characters. There were some interesting people here, but the length of the film gave them-- and in truth the storyline, short shrift. While that could have been addressed by reducing the number of main characters or focusing less on the more extraneous of the story lines, I don't know if I would have in fact enjoyed the film more by doing so. I would have like more of everything to be truthful; more exploration of the characters and their relationships that we were exposed to; more of the film's interpretation of the music put through the lens of of hindsight; and more development and rehearsals of their play--when juxtaposed and compared with the daily lives of the film. Certainly not everyone will agree with me, but it was a terrific little film--and I'd like to see more of it. Just more. Not the Hollywood treatment, no, that would alter it's character too much I fear, but just more of what we were given all too briefly. Yes I admit, I may be biased by my own familiarity and nostalgia of the times, but I am not going to apologize for that. I simply Loved it. Loved it. Loved it. Oh for.... they wouldn't allow me to capitalize that I "love it". L.O.V.E.D. I.T. I don't understand how anyone can consider this shouting for god's sakes, it's only a voice in your own head powered by your own imagination. No one is shouting! If anything that exclamation point conveys shouting more than capitalizing an entire word. Capitalizing only emphasizes the word or words. Emphasis, not shouting. I would italicize it but that doesn't W.O.R.K. on IMDb's website. If you italicize or even bold letter a word it just comes out with ampersands and all kinds of mixed symbols--but no italics or bold letters. If they fixed that then I wouldn't be tempted to S.H.O.U.T.! Moderators? Do you read these?????

I can't disagree with much of the criticism here. There are too many story arcs and few are given enough screen time (one, about questioning one's sexuality seemed to be over in less than 60 seconds in entirety, and without any resolution that particularly adds anything). I'm just about old enough to remember the summer of 1976 and the film didn't feel historically accurate, either. Rather than reminisce, I had to keep reminding myself it wasn't set in the modern day.However, there were good things. The acting and singing, both from Minnie Driver and her charges, is good throughout. Aneurin Barnard and Danielle Branch stand out as the erstwhile couple who are acrimoniously failing to maintain a working relationship as leads in school's production of The Tempest. Both have a brooding intensity and use their eyes to great effect. For me, the standout moment was during the final production, singing "Life On Mars?" as a duet; him, looking away, still unable to meet her eyes even once, and her, the polar opposite, never wavering in her direct and angry gaze, spitting the words at him. In the penultimate moments of the song, her expression changes entirely from anger to loss, perhaps finally realising that nothing can be salvaged between them. And then, the final scene, she is still staring intently at him, but she is looking upon him almost as a stranger now, as ex-lovers invariably become. It's very well acted, demonstrating these sudden realisations only with her eyes and having them mirrored with an acceptance or at least acknowledgement of defeat in his eyes too.I wasn't expecting to like it, but I did. If you follow the advice given to Minnie Driver's character in the film about keeping your expectations low and don't approach this film as high art, you may find yourself enjoying it. If nothing else, the music is really very good indeed.

A half decent film in terms of plot and a good film in terms of acting. The only thing that annoyed me slightly with the acting was Kristian Gwilliam who I thought was awful. Interesting to see how many actors from this film have now gone on to appear in Stella, I think that shows how well the cast worked as a unit. The pace did feel a little off at times where you get a sudden change of direction before reverting to the original pace of the film almost as if a scene had been cut out. I would have liked to have seen a bit more of some of the characters back stories in the first half of the film and I think the film should have been made a bit longer to accommodate that. The character of Lewis in particular who was well played by Adam Byard seemed to feature a lot more prominently in the second half of the film compared to the first. I also thought that some of the cast were a bit under used with Di Botcher particularly taking a very minor role and given her past experience in Twin Town and that she has since gone on to be in Stella I was surprised to see her in such a minor role. Overall a decent film which im giving 6 out of 10 which isn't a bad rating off me considering I don't usually go for musicals.

Hunky Dory tries to emulate what has already come before it in terms of musicals; Glee and Across the Universe, neither of which I have to say I'm a fan of but I'm willing to give anything a chance so I decided to see Hunky Dory.The generic coming-of-age plots are held together by the show the kids are performing in with Minnie Driver at the helm but that's the problem; there are simply too many characters. In fact, there are a dozen and it's just too much to try and take in. No criticism towards the actors but 12 different characters to follow just gets confusing and bogged down. Now, 3 or 4 main story lines I think would have worked perfectly but we aren't given the chance to engage with any of the characters as their stories are jotted all over the film and it's hard to remember who's doing what, who's going where and frankly, it's just hard to care.The musical numbers, as enjoyable and respectfully done as they are, sometimes seem just to be thrown in for the sheer hell of it. It suffers from 'Across the Universe syndrome' in that, the songs they perform happen to tie in with exactly what the characters are feeling and going through. Now that might work for some people but I'm not a big fan. It's just too corny. I did find myself getting quite into some of the songs however, the covers are good, as is the soundtrack. I just love Bowie in honesty!I'm not a fan of the film, obviously, but I will say it's good for it's music and soundtrack. That isn't enough reason to go and see it however and I would say it could definitely be given a miss.