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‘Heart Strings’ Review: Schmaltzy Musical Drama About a Rigged Reality Show Is Pleasant but Predictable
Showbiz parable examines how a handful of country musicians — who swear by 'three chords and the truth' — cope with the phoniness of reality TV.
Billie Carton ( Maggie Koerner), a widowed maintenance attendant at the cemetery where her war hero husband is laid to rest, and Lucky Fontana ( Sam Varga), a garbage collector whose own military background consists primary of a short-lived stint at West Point, meet cute during an open mic night at a bar in Louisville, Ky. Purcell is eager — no, make that desperate — to find a new Americana star for his label now that his conspicuously younger wife, Precious Blue (a well-cast Carly Johnson), is now old enough to qualify as a legacy act, and relies on singing commercial jingles to supplement her dwindling income. More important, they’re sufficiently experienced to entertainingly sell a variety of country/Americana songs written or co-written by Steve Sun, ranging from swaggeringly bro-country anthem (“You Won’t Like Country Music”) to deliciously gospel-flavored uplift (“Love is All Life is Worth”).
Or read this on Variety