I Used To Be Famous (Movie Review)
Eddie Sternberg makes his directorial debut with “I Used To Be Famous”, a charmingly cliched musical dramedy about music’s power to build friendships and communities.
The movie centers around the life of ex-popstar Vince (Ed Skrein), whose former glory was thrown off track by the traumatic loss of his brother as well as his own simple nature. Now a rundown thirty-something, Vince is not a likeable protagonist. We see him enact creepy acts like illegally looking up someone’s address and going to the house, lying to music promoters, and stealing biscuits from a church gathering. A perennial dreamer, Vince attempts a musical comeback, and is so desperate for eyes and ears that he takes to the streets with his keyboards, only to be mocked by those who knew him from his high-status days.
However, fate brings Vince in touch with drummer Stevie (Leo Long). Stevie is an eighteen-year-old who, because of his autism, lives under the helicopter guidance of his mother Amber (Eleanor Matsuura). It turns out that Vince and Stevie have quite the musical compatibility and synergy, and their friendship blossoms in and around Vince’s doe-eyed mistakes (like attacking a man during a performance of Vince and Stevie’s band The Tin Men).
Vince longs to return to the limelight and asks for help from his old bandmate Austin (Eoin Macken). Austin offers Vince a spot on his tour but tells him that he cannot bring Stevie along as a drummer. Past guilt that Vince had about missing his dying brother’s last birthday party for the sake of his music career is almost laughably mirrored here when Amber bans Vince from attending Stevie’s birthday party for the exact same reason.
Vince is easily manipulated by sinister music executive Dennis (Neil Stuke), whose use of dominating body language and psychological manipulation throughout the film are used to reinforce an allegorical archetype of a greedy suit uninterested in the art they’re peddling. Stuke plays, if not overplays, the part well, and is likeably hateable.
To their credit, Sternberg and co-writer Zak Klein didn’t have Vince and Amber hookup, perhaps one of the only tropes they didn’t incorporate into their soap-opera-layered storyline. Also to their credit, Stevie’s autism is handled sensitively, neither ignoring nor overly dramatizing its struggles. We see Stevie manage his condition with strength and make strides to get out from under his mother’s wing to attend music college.
Another development of character comes when Vince asks his job counselor about a career in Music Therapy. Seemingly ready to take responsibility, Vince is offered a job facilitating the drum circle he had joined to get closer to Stevie. This setting also provides some feel-good moments and perhaps the movie’s musical peak, an impressive vocal performance from Aiyana Goodfellow.
The music in “I Used To Be Famous” is good. Some of the melodies get into your head and lift your spirit. The Tin Men likably blend confessional synth-pop with epic dancefloor-filling ambitions by way of Stevie’s perplexingly godly-sounding drum kit. During a tea/bathroom break, I found myself humming one of the tunes from the film. Later, in the second half, I found myself shedding tears. If you allow yourself to be pulled into this schematic musical, you’ll be met with the kind of adolescent determination that makes someone famous in the first place and the kind of heart that makes their lives interesting when they’re older.
6.8/10
