The Greatest Hits Movie Review

I’m always made fun of because one of the things that’s said to me quite often is, “You love every song!” Well, yeah. The music I listen to sends me back to moments in life when I was in a certain place, doing a certain thing and with a certain person. ​

I loved, not liked a lot of songs and being attached for that is something I’ll never understand. People I will never see again are next to me (in my mind) when certain tunes hit the air. I love it.

That’s the basic premise of “The Greatest Hits.” In the film Harriet, Lucy Boynton, from “Barbie” and the series “The Politician,” finds that art truly can imitate life when she discovers upon hearing certain songs that she and her boyfriend Max, played by David Corenswet, whom you may know from, interestingly enough, the series “The Politician” starring Ben Platt and Lucy Boynton, are together again. I say this because he died in a car crash. But she loves Max so much that their connection transports her back in time through a tune. She’s literally with him. She only gets a few moments, though. The length of the song, but no matter what she does, she can’t fix what ended his life. There’s no ability to stop his death. It’s a romantic notion to try, but also painful to watch as she lets her own life slip away, continually grabbing the minuscule moments she can with Max. He isn’t coming back from the accident that took his life… why is she ruining her life for something not under her control? Well, sometimes we do, right?  

She’s in group therapy with Dr. Evelyn Bartlett, played by Retta from “Parks and Recreation, to help deal with the situation. Dr. Bartlett tells Harriet that she’s making a conscious choice to hide in her grief, so in the next class, she decides to finally expose her anguish. She never speaks, so, of course, the one time she gives it a try (because it’s the two-year anniversary of Max dying), she’s rudely interrupted by a man named David entering the group. He accidentally disrupts her speech by knocking over a bunch of metal chairs. A bit lame, but… let’s just move on.

David, played by Justin H. Min from “Beef” and “The Umbrella Academy,” apologizes after the session. There’s an interesting scene when she and Max first meet, too. This is shown again later, which is a moment I believe helps redeem the story.

Harriet gets to know David, with whom she speaks music. Unfortunately, she also mentions Max a bit too much. No one wants to be a third wheel, am I right? She also finds it necessary to tell him about meeting up with her dead man. Smart move.

After this, there’s some clever writing that helps the movie, but it’s a limited theater run for a reason. Stream this. Her singing “I’m Not In Love” by 10cc is one reason I say this. At the theater would be too harsh. Anyway, the ending is really sweet and pay attention to the background. The movie is cliché, but is a fun time, if you can forgive those headphones she constantly wears. The Greatest Hits isn’t great, but is worth a one time watch.