Don’t Say Good Luck is a Compassionate Look at Teenage Ambition
Don’t Say Good Luck is the relatable story of the misalignment between high school theatre kids and their family life. More character driven and intimate, this film is for you over the larger, world ending cinema experiences.
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The Weight of Domestic Melancholy
The story sets the premise of musical theater in the strained, usually quiet, dynamics of the Birenbaum household. Gravity is provided by Sunny Sandler as she portrays a character who authenticly captures the specific anxieties of adolescence. Melanie Lynskey and Max Greenfield portray an exhausted, grounded counterpoint as the parents struggling to deal with their own problems at home. The transition from the fake brightness of the stage to the muted, real life tones, is handled by the movie with a gentle touch and keeps this movie personal and not performative.
What stands this movie apart is the genuine respect paid to the teenage protagonist of the story. This movie more often than not avoids the cringe stories of poorly written teen portrayals. The screenplay captures the melodrama of the high school experience of the main characters, capturing the immense importance of the teenage social universe and the deep seated melancholy in the character’s arc. By avoiding the family drama becoming a cliche, a movie focused on the Birenbaum family keeps a steady, compassionate beat that feels genuine to the people in this story.
Where the Narrative Stumbles
Although it has excellent emotional depth, the film drags a little during the middle act as the drama happening at home with the family is not fully connected to the musical rehearsals. The rehearsals do highlight Sophie’s internal state, but all the same the lack of integration of the friction in Sophie’s life, between her family vs. her aspirations for the stage, leads to a slight major/minor imbalance, as the film is better able to define the domestic space than it is to fully define the musical theater space in service of the emotional line of the story.
Some may find the film less engaging for not using the typical genre conventions. Because the film has a quiet, observational style, it may be compared to others. However the style is used to highlight smaller, subtle moments which pay off in a more rewarding way in this film. Patience is for sure a virtue for this film, as many do not wait to see the payoff for the characters, which is rarely shown.
Target Audience and Final Assessment
This film is great for those who enjoy character-centered stories and want to watch something emotional and honest without a lot of plot hoopla. This one is perfect for people who want to watch something with a gentle, melancholy atmosphere and a story that is about balancing family and creative aspirations. This a wonderful story and a wonderful characters exploring their dysfunctional relationships with their families.
If you are looking for an action packed comedy or even just a big, bold catchy musical, look elsewhere. If you like lots of plot, moving things along and keeping you excited, this film, at 96 minutes, will feel like a snail’s pace. This is a thoughtful and quiet film about growing up and earning your adulthood.
