199. Songbird; movie review

SONGBIRD
Cert 15
95 mins

BBFC advice: Contains strong language

I like to support independent film and original thinking so I am torn by a movie which took only five days to make and was entirely improvised.
Yes, there was no script to Jamie Adams' Songbird (previously called Alright Now) which explains why, in my opinion, it struggles with an emotional pull.
I cannot deny the hearts of producers Noel Clarke and Jason Maza are in the right place because this was a project in which they collaborated generously with Falmouth University TV and film students.
Nevertheless, I have to report that the movie didn't grab and I found its premise of music star trying to find herself and falling for a university administrator unfulfilling and unlikely.
On the plus side, Cobie Smulders is an attractive and engaging lead as the 90s singer who has been wallowing in the success of her distant past.
When her band finally splits up, she and her madcap but rather needy friend (Jessica Hynes) decide to enrol as mature students.

The audience is expected to park the reality of how tough it is to find a place in a university or in its halls of residence before we are then expected to buy into Smulders' character finding love.
Yes, the equivalent of Andrea Corr gets the hots for a plump and frankly dull administrator (Richard Elis).
Inevitably, he doesn't quite believe it and the couple don't really gel but, for reasons which are not exactly clear, she perseveres.
The consequence of the lack of script is that there is little substance to the dialogue.
The cast lean towards cliches and I was left wondering whether Adams didn't have time to tease out more exciting words because of the breakneck speed of filming.
I also mused on why the film been renamed from Alright Now to Songbird and been re-released two years after it was first doing the rounds.
If it is to cash in on fans of I'm A Celebrity runner-up, Emily Atack, they will be disappointed. Blink and you would miss her contribution.

Reasons to watch: Easygoing off-beat romance
Reasons to avoid: So little substance 

Laughs: None
Jumps: None
Vomit: None
Nudity: Noel Clarke's bum
Overall rating - 4.5/10

Did you know? Falmouth University School of Television and Film students worked alongside industry professionals to shoot the feature in just six days. The editing and post production was completed at the university.

The final word. Cobie Smulders: "When I first started talking to Jamie about the movie I didn’t think that we could actually do it? To shoot anything in five days seemed impossible. And that was probably the reason we were able to do it is because we didn’t have a script." Uproxx

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