Gretta (Keira Knightley) is a British songwriter living in the U.S. with her boyfriend, Dave Kohl (Adam Levine). While in the UK they were very much a team, but they were brought to the US by a label that maybe discovered him after his song(s) were in a movie. Since he's the one that was brought over by a label, he's the one getting all that attention, so she's being treated kind of shiftily. Then he just goes ahead and ditches her for some chick at the label he's known for a month.
Gretta heads to her mate Steve's place on the Lower East Side, planning a trip back to the UK, but he ropes her into open mic night at Arlene's grocery.
Dan (Mark Ruffalo), a washed-out A&R guy, sees her at Arlene's and can imagine the song with the other instruments. He pursues her for his old label. Mos Def, his old partner, isn't having it. Dan decides to record it alone with her. Outside. On the streets. It's a bit of a rough idea. They rope in James Corden. Then Dan recruits a cello and violin player and teaches them the accompaniment parts he imagined at Arlene's, a keyboardist, guitar player and drummer, and suddenly there's a backup band. That all happens pretty quickly, watch it and find out.
They need bass musicians, which is where Cee Lo Green comes in. No money, no problem, because Mark Ruffalo is worth it. [Please note, this is the first person in the movie to give him any credit for being worth a damn, although you can tell deep down his ex-wife (Catherine Keener, whose face is now 75% covered by hair - it's important to see her movies before the eclipse becomes complete) thinks he's alright, although his daughter (Hailee Steinfeld) thinks he's crappy. Can this new record turn all that around?]
They bond, it's sweet.
Dave Kohl shoots to stardom, claims to be finally achieving his amazing dreams that he never used to have, so that's fabulous.
This movie totally comes together. Good indie flick.
Availability: Netflix Streaming, Amazon, Hulu
Released: 2013
Reason I watched: Just found it on Netflix today
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