Taking a less obvious route - and a few risks

WRITER-DIRECTOR Dan Fogelman latches onto a pea-sized factoid - that John Lennon once sent a budding young musician a letter of encouragement that he only received decades later - and turns it into Danny Collins, a dramedy-with-some-substance about an almost-man in search of redemption. The movie could have been a sentimental journey, cruising along on a blustery performance by Al Pacino and a soundtrack of Lennon songs, but it avoids the obvious feel-good route and takes a few risks - with uneven results.

Some movies about the contemporary music scene are biopics or have sharp social commentaries built in but Danny Collins doesn't aspire to be a game-changer along the lines of say, Almost Famous (2000), The Blues Brothers (1980) or This is Spinal Tap (1984). It's a small, sometimes-amusing and often-entertaining cinematic distraction that serves its purpose well and then fades away from the memory, destined to resurface on cable as a Movie of the Month.

The film opens in 1971, when a magazine editor tells the young Danny Collins (Eric Michael Roy) that he is on the cusp of musical success. "You write like Lennon, man - you're gonna be huge," he says.