Plot: 65 year old rock star Danny Collins (Al Pacino) is still touring to hall-fulls of aging fans, and he still drinks and does cocaine. On his birthday, he catches his young wife with a boyfriend her own age. At the same time, he gets a letter addressed to himself written by John Lennon The letter had been stolen by a magazine writer, and was only delivered after 30 years. He reflects on what he might have done with his life, cancels the rest of his tour and decamps to a Hilton in New Jersey, where he flirts with Mary (Annette Benning) the hotel manager.
He goes to visit his long estranged son Tom (Bobby Cannevale) who has an enchanting daughter Hope (Giselle Eisenberg) and a pregnant wife Samantha (Jennifer Garner). There are a few plot twists and soon he is writing songs in his hotel room, and this propels the movie to its not so predictable end.[imdb] [photos]
Like most art movies, the pace is slow, probably so that you can catch all the symbolism, or perhaps to let the audience feel-deeply. In any event the slow pace is a sleep-inducing.
There is uniformly good acting from Al Pacino and Annette Benning, who have a nice patter. Jennifer Garner is good too. When Bobby Cannevale is ill, he has a few good moments. Little Giselle is funny and cute -- although her voice may be dubbed in half the time.
