Music

Kazu (“Zu”) (Kate Hudson) is newly sober when she receives news that she is to become the sole guardian of her half-sister named Music (Maddie Ziegler), a young girl on the autism spectrum.

Our Take: Sia could have made a visual album. Sia could have made 10 cool music videos. But she chose not to. You should do yourself a favor and not watch what she did make either.
Streaming? No. It is available for rent/purchase.

You know what isn’t cool? Ableism. Caricatures of people with autism. Able people playing characters with disabilities. Outdated AIDS stereotypes. Physically restraining people with autism. Making light of sobriety journeys. Including lots of harmful colors and flashing in your supposedly disability-friendly film. Obscure adoption stories. Spousal abuse. Child abuse. Stereotypical immigrant stories. Borderline offense accents. Useless plot points that lead nowhere.

You know what this film had? All of those things. And arguably more.

Taking away the controversial casting, the controversial plot which paints a person with a disability being a hinderance to their family, and the offensive depictions – and what you’re left with is still a really bizarre and ill-conceived film. It is not well-written. It is not well-directed. It’s barely-there plot is not compelling. The talented actors who were cast are not compelling. And, to top it all off, it has several problematic points that are inescapable when watching it.

Hudson’s performance wasn’t groundbreaking or interesting, though props to her for shaving her head, we guess. Her shaved head and her character’s apparent inability to wear shirts were the only things that made her edgy or interesting in the slightest. While Hudson is normally a charismatic performer, she lacked all charm in this film. Furthermore she and her romantic opposite, Leslie Odom Jr., were never able to find their groove which resulted in a painfully disappointing lack of chemistry. Ziegler is young and while this movie was not her idea, it’s impossible to imagine that playing the character she was playing in the manner she did, won’t be a costly career mistake. Her performance wasn’t good – full stop. Nor was her casting.

Featuring: Some really interesting embedded music video concepts. This film can be boiled down to a few music videos strung together with a poorly thought-out, poorly-executed, frankly offensive movie. Sia could have saved a lot of time, money, and face had she just made an artistic visual album. Instead, we’re stuck with this.

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SMASH AND NASTY’S AWARDS SEASON THOUGHTS

Our hope is that during any regular non-pandemic year, this movie would not have been nominated for any awards. Frankly, we’re surprised this film garnered any nominations even during such an off year. SAG and the Critics clearly got the hint that this movie ought to be blacklisted. Watch this space for updates, but we assume the Academy is going to feel the same way. Shame on the Golden Globes for legitimizing this nonsense.

GG	Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy	Kate Hudson
GG	Best Motion Picture — Musical or Comedy