I liked this movie. I LOVE Miles Teller, omigosh he is such a good actor (and pretty cute too :) ). But I'm not sure about the message of this movie. I like that Andrew was motivated and nothing could get him down and he worked his butt off to get what was in his heart to get. BUT....... love and relationships are SO important. I'm not saying he needed to be with that girl. Oh man those scenes were great, by the way. Ugh. I hate-loved that scene in the restaurant where he was so blunt in predicting the future of their relationship and how it would go so badly in light of how focused on music he is. It was pretty tragic and it hurt her pretty bad, but actually he was saving her from a pretty rough life by doing that.
The movie was a little obvious at times - with his family at the table, wasn't a huge fan of the lack of subtlety in the writing.
Oh but talk about not-obvious writing (or acting) - oh man, when Andrew first asks Nicole out, oh MAN, her initial response is freaking killer. I was like, Wha??! And Andrew's response to her response, oh MAN, it was so awesome, I really thought it was the end, I was like, No way! I love that kind of writing. Reminds me of my ex-boyfriend and when we went on our first date and at the end of hours and hours of talking about life and God and all these good things, he goes, "Do you want to go smoke a bong with me?" And I was like, "[shocked] Um.." And he was like, "I'm kidding!!" And I laughed awkwardly and was like, "Oh..." And then he's like, "But seriously, do you want to go smoke a bong with me?" I was like [face-wise], What?? And he's like, "I'm kidding!! I'm just testing you." Okay.....
But anyways, the teacher... good acting, awful teacher, loved the plot line of it with Andrew fighting him / speaking out, but to have him come back to him, be used by him, show him up, and then all of a sudden they're working together again, I don't know, that was like too much back-and-forth strangeness at the end there. It felt sort of abrupt. And I'm not sure if Andrew proved he could motivate himself or that teacher-abuse-motivation was exactly what he needed.
Either way, can we all agree that Andrew - though motivated and a hard worker - was a little motivated for the wrong reasons? To try to win favor with his family, to make a name for himself, to be the best no matter who he had to step on or lose on the way. I don't know. I like the dedication and self-discipline, but I'm afraid if the movie were to continue, he would end up turning into a pretty similar version of the abusive teacher, with no friends and with music as an idol.
But since there were many scenes that showed him to be a reasonable person and to care about others, maybe he will become the musician that figures out how to do both. Maybe he finds a new girl. Maybe he becomes a great teacher who inspires and pushes but doesn't do so in a vicious and cruel way.
I did like the line, "There are no two words in the English language more harmful than, 'Good job.'" Wow. I mean, it's a little extreme, but yeah, I do think in general we as a culture need to be more truthful and push harder so people can really become who they are supposed to become. But doing that should come out of love for others, it's "truth in love," not just truth, and certainly not truth in cruelty and physical abuse.
Ephesians 4:15 says, "Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head that is Christ" (NIV). We are all meant to become who we are supposed to be, so that we can work together to fulfill God's purpose. That is the true purpose, and it may involve staying disciplined with and getting better at music, but it is not music for music's sake. That would be crazy. There is only one God, and music is just one of his many beautiful creations, so let's worship Him and not it. Okay? Okay. (And maybe one day I'll get to do a scene with Miles Teller. :) )
