You could be mistaken in thinking that naming this rather pedestrian drama about middle-aged rock star The High Note an act of irony, but sadly it isn’t .
In her first movie starring role, Golden Globe Winner Tracee Ellis Ross (Blackish) plays Grace Davis and cuts a dashing figure in her expensive wardrobe as the tough star that heads up an empire …. with more than a passing resemblance to Meryl Streep in The Devil Wears Prada. With her extremely successful career at a crossroads, she is faced with the dilemma of keep touring and singing all her greatest hits as she has done for years, or trying something new,
Ice Cube (Jack Robertson) her manager wants to safeguard all their incomes by suggesting its time that Grace went where all aging stars go i.e. a long-term residence in Las Vegas. However Maggie Sherwood her P.A. for the past years and who has being at Grace’s beck & call running all her errands has secret ambitions to be a music producer.
Played by a woeful miscast Dakota Johnson who thinks that she knows enough to make Grace’s star shine again. Maggie also picks up another potential client in the shape of budding musician David Cliff (Kelvin Harrison Jr.) who also plays the unconvincing love interest.
The High Note is the sophomore film from queer filmmaker Nisha Ganatra from a script by newbie Flora Greeson who is a former assistant in the music business. Ms Ganatra is obviously well connected as a handful of tiny cameo roles were by major players like Melanie Griffith, Bill Pullman, Diplo and Eddie Izzard. The latter stole his very tiny scene with his acidlike wit which the movie could have used so much more off.
Ellis Ross channelling her famous mother still shines, but she would have been better served by a script worthy of her talent.
