Sometimes I don't know what viewers interpret into a film or what their previous viewing habits are. Although I often like British films because they are raw and real, with I Used to Be Famous I wondered how many times I had seen this story before. And as is often the case, some kind of underdog with heart has to step up and work small miracles. Ultimately, there's nothing to be said against that, if the result weren't so half-hearted and TV-movie-like. Ed Skrein is Vince, the former teen idol, now washed up and jobless. You can hear where he's coming from in his speech, and you don't really know where he's going, even though he keeps emphasizing that he wants success. Success eludes him until he meets the autistic Stevie, who lives in his own rhythmic world and can spice up Vince's dull synth sounds with a self-made percussion apparatus. Sounds likeable and it kind of is, but unfortunately it's very half-heartedly acted and the music is just plain awful. When Vince sings, my cat runs out of the room and whatever possibilities arise for him here in the course of the film are pure dramaturgical assertions and would not be possible in real life, just as this whole film eludes reality rather than trying to depict it. Thus, what remains is a bumpy and nice attempt to tell a heartfelt story, but for me it falls by the wayside on all levels.
Review of I Used to Be Famous
