I so wanted to like All Together Now. A teen girl overcomes difficult circumstances alongside friends in hopes of chasing after her singing dreams and attending Carnegie Mellon? Hits all the right notes for me. But while the movie I watched did see a young heroine pushing through a tough life, it was far too lonely to deserve a title as friendly as All Together Now.
It was far too lonely to deserve a title as friendly as All Together Now.
Auli'i Cravalho, best known for voicing the titular princess of Disney's Moana, plays the lead role of Amber. On the outside, she looks like a busy, upbeat teen. She works multiple jobs, participates in her drama department, and volunteers at the retirement community. But what those around her don't see is that she is forced to deal with the complications that come with homelessness, including living on a school bus with her frequently drunk mom who is slipping back into an abusive relationship. These are big issues to tackle — and the movie handles them fine enough. However, the PG-rating sanitizes serious discussions about Amber's struggles, and her too-good-to-be-true persona makes her come off as an unrealistic protagonist. She is easy to like but difficult to relate to.
Netflix's All Together Now wants to be charismatic. Amber's given a cute guy to crush on, a variety show to prepare for, and a sassy old lady to befriend, played by Carol Burnett. But the romance has little chemistry, the overly optimistic show comes off as hollow in the wake of cascading tragedies, and Burnett's spirited supporting role is restricted to just a handful of scenes.
Image: Allyson Riggs / NETFLIX
The movie tries to do so much in its hour-and-a-half runtime that both its subplots and characters never fully develop. In the first several minutes, we meet Amber, plus ... a group of retired residents she teaches music to — the man who runs the doughnut shop she works at — the elderly woman Amber's friends with — Amber's mom — her friend's mom — her friends — and her drama teacher. Because there are so many people at play, it's hard to connect to any of them. It's why I didn't experience any fuzzy, heartwarming feelings when (spoiler alert!) any of these individuals helped Amber out in the end. We don't really know them. The sole existence of the characters in this film, from the mother of a friend who takes Amber in to the boy she has feelings for, is to benefit the world of the protagonist. And it causes the supporting characters to feel empty.
All we know about the guy she has an underdeveloped romance with is that he plays piano and his family is rich. Every time he's with Amber, they're discussing her troubles or the upcoming variety show... and nothing else.
Because there are so many people at play, it's hard to connect to any of them.
And truly, their interactions feel off. While the script definitely didn't help with this, the pacing is also to blame. All Together Now is directed by Brett Haley, who also recently adapted All the Bright Places. That movie also felt slow at times, but the individual scenes in All Together Now have a much more awkward flow. There were noticeable moments in which the dialogue lacked rhythm and felt more like actors reading lines than people experiencing life. It also couldn't have helped that the somber tone of the movie is randomly interrupted by cheesy humor. And the aforementioned over-the-top variety show thrown in the last 15 minutes to make everything get better all of a sudden doesn't do it any favors.
With that said, I did appreciate what this movie was trying to do. I liked that it tried to promote a message about helping others in need. I liked that it featured a diverse cast. And I really liked that Amber's friend group featured a wheelchair user and a teen on the spectrum played by a wheelchair user and a teen on the spectrum.
But for all the good intentions, All Together Now ultimately just wasn't that great. It wasn't wildly problematic like Netflix's Sierra Burgess Is a Loser or The Kissing Booth, but it was still never as sweet as the streaming service's To All the Boy I've Loved Before or Dumplin'.
All Together Now paints serious topics with a sugary outlook in an attempt to have it all. But in balancing these dueling identities, it struggles to either enchant or be taken seriously.
All Together Now is now streaming on Netflix.
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