Here Today | Film Review

 

I had heard nothing about this film before it came out on the Sky Premiere channel. But I found the premise potentially endearing and interesting, so I thought I'd give it a go.

Veteran comedy writer Charlie (Billy Crystal) forms an unlikely friendship with singer Emma (Tiffany Haddish).

I did a complete 360 with this film. I went from practically hating it to crying when it was over. Because of that, this review is going to seem a bit all over the place, so I've broken my comments down into the first half of the film, and the second half.

First half

I was much more interested in Charlie's day-to-day life at the beginning of the film than I was in his budding friendship with Emma.

I couldn't work out the tone of the film. Was it a comedy that wasn't particularly funny? A drama that wasn't particularly dramatic? I didn't quite get what the film wanted the audience to feel.

For a really long time, not a lot happens, and ultimately the story starts to feel a bit boring.

After the 40 minute mark, the film started to get a lot better. Particularly because it stopped trying to make the audience laugh, and the characters started to feel like real people.

Second half

From here, I started to understand what the film was about, and I would say that at about 90 minutes in, I truly got it.

I began to love the relationship between Emma and Charlie. The characters complimented each other in a really unique, fascinating way, and it was lovely to see the interactions between them.

The acting in the film is amazing. As well as Billy Crystal and Tiffany Haddish, the film also stars Penn Badgley, Laura Benanti and Louisa Krause, who all do a great job with their characters.

This ends up being a much better film than it starts off as.

Overall, I ended up loving this film. I wish that more of the second half could have been included in the first half, but once I understood what this story was, I was so touched by it, and would definitely recommend it.

6.5/10