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A slow and poorly focused music drama eventually comes into its own. |
| Off the Record is the type of movie that could do very poorly with a misperception of its genre. A quick glance at the poster, plot summary and the cast – Ryan Hansen and Rainey Qualley (sister of current it-girl Margaret Qualley) – and one is entering the movie mistakenly assuming it’s a music industry romantic comedy. A costly mistake since this is absolutely not a comedy, but a drama warning about the misogynistic, cut-throat dangers of the music industry hiding amongst the dangers of an abusive relationship. | 2024 Directed by: Kirsten Foe Screenplay by: Kirsten Foe Starring: Rainey Qualley, Ryan Hansen | |
| Pacing issues affect this movie right from the beginning. It starts with LA indie singer-songwriter Astor Grey (Rainey Qualley) trying to catch her big break but meets hot rock star Brandyn Verge (Ryan Hansen) instead. A first date turns into a spontaneous weekend trip to his desert mansion and a montage. Montages are supposed to show couples falling in love over time; theoretically that’s what was happening here, but a montage five minutes into the movie throws the whole timing off, and it doesn’t work because we don’t know the characters well enough to see them falling in love. Understanding how Astor falls for rich dirtbag Brandyn in the first place is the key to the entire movie, and unfortunately that’s exactly where the movie falters. And doubly unfortunate – it’s largely the fault of the cast. Logically, Astor is a young ingenue blinded by Brandyn’s money and success, but Rainey Qualley never shows that. First off, Qualley in real life is 35, but here, Astor is supposed to be 24. I can understand a 24 year-old falling for Brandyn’s fame, but I don’t understand it coming from someone who looks and acts as mature as Rainey Qualley does. Ryan Hansen has played asshole boyfriends many times in his career, but always in a comedy. I’m normally a fan of comedic actors turning to a drama, but everything about his performance is off. You can tell his natural instinct is to go for the comedy, and every single time you can see him fighting it, so it comes across as a performance that seems as if it should be funny but it’s just not. His presence also does not help the romantic comedy misperception. The second half of the movie works so much better. Astor has finally figured out what Brandyn is all about and is now fighting both the misogyny and legal battle of artistry versus capitalism within the music industry. Once all pre-notions of a rom-com have been completely quashed, the film can settle into an effective drama. Rainey Qualley also does much better as the now stronger, enlightened Astor fighting for her spot in the industry. For anyone expecting a romantic comedy, Off the Record is not that; for anyone wanting to dive into the modern LA music scene, you just have to withstand a slow start to get a better movie with a message. A sub-plot is the dangers of getting trapped in a controlling relationship, the writing is lacking in this department, but that theme is handled extremely well in I Love You Forever, another movie that is not a romantic comedy. | ||