Al Pacino stars as Danny Collins, a hard living singer, supposedly based on the real folk singer Steve Tilston, who is living on his past glory’s when he receives a letter sent to him from John & Yoko which had gone missing for 34 years. Pacino is washed up and tired of the rock and roll lifestyle, the letter from Lennon is the trigger through which he has his epiphany and decides to start writing new material, give up his wicked ways and make peace with his son by weaselling his way back into his life through the granddaughter he’s never met before.

This tale of redemption could have drifted into Hallmark territory if not for Pacino overacting in the way that only he can, Annette Benning, as the hotel manager, who acts as Pacino grounding influence and Bobby Cannavale as Pacinos long lost son who all pull together to bring moments of laughter and sadness in equal measure. Each victory is tiny but is lapped up by Pacino as the next step to his recovery but each and every moment is fraught with the ghosts of the past trying to pull him back into his old ways.

The movie swings from emotional drama to comedy and back again and this sitting on the fence is probably what hurts the movie the most but Pacino is always worth watching and while the movie lacks something it’s still entertaining enough to keep your interest, so come on everybody sing it with me………Hey baby doll, what’s going on?

DJ Speaks Rating: 5 out of 10