The Wasteland Reviewer

The Greatest Hits (2024) Written Review

Have you ever dealt with serious loss? Losing a loved one can be a traumatic experience that can linger for a long time to come. The loss can be increasingly impactful if the person died in surprising and violent circumstances. The loss of a loved one is easy to swallow but when you lose your partner in life; a spouse, domestic partner, fiancée, or the person you are dating, that can be extra traumatic. That person you spend every day with just being gone can be a new normal that is hard to get used to. Then the challenge after that is how you are going to process that loss. 

How can film help us process such a loss? Hulu and 20^th Century Studios deliver a new fantasy romance where our protagonist is challenged with a strange and unexpected manifestation of grief. A simple song can trigger time travel back to where you first heard it with your deceased partner. Writer/director Ned Benson explores this unhealthy mechanism of grief through his film The Greatest Hits. Hare (Lucy Boynton) was with the man (David Corenswet) who she thought would be the one…until he died tragically in a car accident that she blamed herself for. For two years, she planned her life around a grief support group and living (literally) in the past through her passion for music. But she meets a young man (Justin H. Min) who is also failing to move on from his own loss; she must soon confront this vicious cycle her life has turned into.

Does the romance of this story help keep this fantastical tale afloat? The story that Benson created is a bit of a mixed bag. You never fully buy into this relationship between Boynton and Corenswet. It is hard to understand why she is stuck in this cycle when the film cannot even convince itself why she felt so strongly about him. Her best friend even comments about them not even being together that long. So, is the film about the struggle of loss for the sake of loss…or did this specific relationship mean that much? Benson struggles to make that clear. There can certainly be more depth in Min’s character but his chemistry with Boynton works well. Luckily, the dynamic between Hare and her new potential boyfriend is engaging. The film sells you enough on the potential of their connection so you want Hare to get over this fantastical crutch. 

Time travel is a tough mechanism to work into a story, right? Most of the time, it comes off as cheap and lazy writing for convenience. But for this film, the time travel is far from convenient. The idea of being ripped into the past at the most inopportune times is quite the unique and interesting twist for a romance and tale of grief. The unfortunate reality is that the logic is not 100% there. There will be moments where the film loses you because it is more concerned with the emotional effects on the narrative than keeping the time travel logic together. There is a cheap trick that is a terrible pitfall of time manipulation in a script. 

But what is the most poignant and effective motif in this high concept romance? The music. Film is unique in the world of art as it hits so many levels and senses. But music (and sound in general) can be so effective in conveying moments that deeply connect with the audience. Benson does a great job of finding the right songs (along with DJ Harvey who is the Music Consultant on the film). There are a few moments where those musical beats hit a deeply resonant chord and bring out the needed effect for the narrative to come together. The film has music deeply rooted in the fabric of the story and it never disappoints (there are even a few strange and fun choices that are quite unexpected).

Does The Greatest Hits find itself near the top of the new normal of streaming romances? There should be a lot of credit given to Benson for offering up a more unique and high concept idea compared to so many bland romance ideas you find all over streaming. The film would have benefited from less tropes and cliches we find in so many cinematic romances. There could have been more depth in the characters, but it still is a musically entertaining tale with a fine central romance to get behind.