The Greatest Hits – A Flawed Romantic Drama (Early Review)

Premiering at last month’s SXSW Film Festival, The Greatest Hits made a splash and did not take a long time to land on streaming services (Hulu in the US and Disney+ internationally). This drama interweaves music in its story in inventive ways, exploring the connection between music and memory through the lens of grief that saw two characters find each other in the midst of their respective grief, each trying to move on and move forward with their lives. Ultimately, its premise works best when not thinking about it too much but in spite of that, it still packs a strong emotional punch thanks to a pair of stellar performances from Lucy Boynton and Justin H. Min. Leaning so heavily on music, audiences can expect an eclectic mix of needle drops accentuating a compelling story all packed within a relatively short 90+ minute running time. That being said, short runtimes can be a double-edged sword narratively, balancing what to leave in and what to take out for the sake of the story and the film as a whole. While there could have easily been more character development here, more isn’t always the best thing in terms of that balance. For what it is, this romance take does somewhat devolve into tropes, however, that fact is easy to overlook because of how much Boynton and Min were fun to watch together.

The Greatest Hits is centered around a woman named Harriet (Boynton) who, following the loss of her boyfriend Max (Corenswet) in a car accident that left her injured, can time travel back to the moment in time associated with any song connected to one of her memories with Max. Now a few years since Max’s death, Harriet has yet to move on, essentially shutting herself off from the world as she was consumed in reliving those moments while trying to find a way to save Max. Blacking out or worse during her temporary adventures in the past, she was resigned to spend most of her time at home. Not risking these episodes whenever she found herself outside of home, Harriet wore her headphones playing other music to shield herself from any song that would remind her of her relationship with Max. Her condition made it difficult for her to maintain relationships until one day, she met David (Min), a man attending the same grief support group as her. Recently losing his parents in short succession, the two appeared to bond over their shared connection with music. Hitting it off, Harriet’s condition continued to loom large as she remained with one foot in the past and another in the present. Despite having feelings for David, she still had feelings for Max which largely left her in a compromising position.

Through her many trips to the past over the course of the film, audiences got to experience Harriet’s relationship with Max. There was clearly a connection there (Boynton and Corenswet have decent chemistry) but the thin and incredibly dull nature of the latter tempered the potential of that pairing though that appeared to be the point as the idea that they were perhaps not meant to be slowly creeped in. As Harriet’s attempts to change the past proved fruitless, her story became about finding some closure before she could finally move on. Meanwhile, David’s journey through his own grief got short changed to an extent. Suffice it to say that the two had some figuring out to do, however, the latter basically followed her lead for the most part. In the end, Harriet and David were so fun to watch together even with their relationship partially built off of romantic comedy tropes. Above all else, after dealing with grief and time travel, the universe would show its resilience by once again finding a way to make things right for everyone.

Flawed premise and execution aside, The Greatest Hits has its heart in the right place as the emotion of Harriet’s story still shone through. The best part of the film was the aforementioned stellar performances from Boynton and Min. Immersed in Harriet’s unique grieving process, one can’t help but feel right with her. Max being worth all that effort is debatable, but the emotion truly came from her connection to him more than he himself. As a woman still tethered to her past trauma and grief and wanting to hold on to the memory of what she had, Boynton was heartbreaking as her desperation took her further down an unhealthy rabbit hole until she was slowly pulled out of it by David who gave her hope for a future. David’s grief and trauma were short changed as Min played the character a little too subdued to sell it. Nevertheless, their strong chemistry made that relationship work but the romantic comedy esque nature of it all was probably not the best choice as many audiences will surely come into this film expecting one before quickly figuring out that it is something else.

At the end of the day, The Greatest Hits is a solid romantic drama whose flawed execution is somewhat alleviated by the chemistry of Lucy Boynton and Justin H. Min.

still courtesy of Searchlight Pictures

If you liked this, please read our other reviews here and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter or Instagram or like us on Facebook.

Keith Noakes

The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.