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Created Jul 06, 2014 08:27PM PST • Edited Jul 07, 2014 10:10PM PST

1. Quality

2. Summary

   Very Good 3.5

   Begin Again is a low-key treat for grownups in need of a quality Date Night Movie. More a music romance than a people romance, music lovers and especially musicians will find in it a true bonus: Great Music!

   Mark Ruffalo & Keira Knightly are terrific separately and have great chemistry together as an unlikely duo down on their luck, but brought together by their tortured connections to the music industry. If that sounds vaguely familiar to the beloved Irish movie Once, that’s because John Carney wrote and directed both.

   Begin Again is set in the Big Apple however, with Gotham getting a starring role nearly equal to the actors. Carney’s film also stoops to conquer today’s convulsive changes within the music industry, including the demise of a business model that supported vast expense accounts, fancy offices and rockstar perks.

   The times they are a-changin’.

   But Begin Again, a good old-fashioned a very good movie for adults, proves they haven’t changed entirely.

4. Acting

   Very Good 3.5

   Mark Ruffalo & Keira Knightly head a cast studded with rockstars, or at least judges from The Voice.

   1st – The Stars

   Mark Ruffalo is a past master at playing shambling wrecks who remain endearing, as he proved early on in You Can Count on Me. Weed was his crutch there, booze here. He plays a DWI disaster and yet we don’t wish disaster on him, because of the strength of the part and the likable charisma Ruffalo brings to it.

   Keira Knightley is very Keira Knightley: singer-songwriter from London tagging along with Adam Levine, her boyfriend. Yet she’s never insufferable, making it a great Keira Knightley performance. ’Nuff Said

   Adam Levine gets his first movie role as her newly famous singer-boyfriend. He succumbs to the pleasures of the position, which is entirely believable.

   Catherine Keener plays Ruffalo’s estranged wife and Mother of their teenaged daughter, played by Hailee Steinfeld, well.

   Mos Def smoothly handles the role of Ruffalo’s longtime business partner, starting from Yale. ANNOUNCEMENT: Mos Def most definitely wants to be known as Yasiin Bey now. Mos def!

   James Corden underwhelms as Knightley’s pal, a good spirited singer-songwriter from London.

   Rob Morrow cameos as a big shot music industry exec, ponytail and all. Perfect!

   CeeLo Green

   CeeLo Green plays a rich music star just like CeeLo Green. Crazy for the Big Man. His posse consists of Rappa DD, Phat Jimmy & Benson: Kena Onyenjekwe, Harvey Morris & Terry Lewis respectively.

5. Male Stars Great 4.0

6. Female Stars Great 4.0

7. Female Costars Very Good 3.5

8. Male Costars Good 3.0

10. Film

    Very Good 3.5

    John Carney has another very successful film on his hands with Begin Again. Nevermind his higher ambitions, several low key LOLs give his creation audience appeal.

11. Direction Very Good 3.5

12. Play Good 3.0

13. Music Really Great 4.5

    Lost Stars is a perfect song, really. Fifty years ago Audrey Hepburn sang the inferior Moon River in Breakfast at Tiffany’s and the song won an Oscar. Keira Knightly won’t get near the acclaim, but deserves more. Her rendition of Lost Stars adds immeasurably to the song’s magic.

14. Visuals Very Good 3.5
15. Content

16. Edge

    Risqué 1.8

17. Sex Titillating 1.9

18. Violence Fierce 1.6

19. Rudeness Salty 2.0

21. Reality

    Glib 1.2

22. Circumstantial Glib 1.6

23. Biological Natural 1.0

24. Physical Natural 1.0