Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

This film disappoints in every aspect. The acting is middling (even the almost always wonderful Amy Adams and sadly-underused Harriet Sansom Harris), the script is ridden with clichés, the production values are amateurish, and the plot is terribly predictable. It is a credit to Ms. Adams that her screen presence alone kept me watching until the end even though she is rarely given anything to do in this film (besides exhibiting a fine singing voice) that would merit such dedication. Without her, I probably would not have made it past the first 20 minutes. The only positive thing going for this movie is the fine selection of American standards sung throughout which could easily be otherwise obtained from other artists and various other sources.It is easy to see why the studio sat on this film for more than 4 years before finally releasing as direct-to-DVD once Amy Adams had become a rising star.

After recently watching the Disney movie Enchanted, I wanted to hear Amy Adams sing again in a different film, so when I stumbled upon this movie, I was excited to watch it. I read the reviews and was sad to see that the movie wasn't as great as others had hoped. I decided to watch the movie online, and judge it for myself. Well, I was really disappointed, and it wasn't even a movie that I think Amy Adams fans would like to see because it was boring and a waste of my time. A part of the way through I started skipping the office scenes, and just searching for the singing parts, or at least something happening with the plot or character development. Alec Newman's acting was very awkward, whether he was alone or interacting with others, and sadly, Amy's acting was the same way. I know every actor/actress has at least one bad movie in their repertoire, and this is definitely one of them for the main two actors. Just after finishing the movie, I was instantly thinking of ways that it could have been better. The story could have had so much more depth to it, and the writers could have explored more of the main character's background to give us some sympathy and feelings for them. I've read cheap romance novels that are better than this story simply because it has an interesting plot, more action, or just better writing. I love the songs that they chose for the movie, and Amy and Alec did a decent job with singing them, but they really could have used a singing coach, so they could have that unique voice that people hear when they listen to jazz. I thought the best singer was the club singer in the beginning of the movie. She had the appropriate voice for singing jazz music. I understand that this wasn't a largely funded movie, and how it was completed in 2005, but became a DVD in 2009, and there weren't really any popular actors in it (I don't think Amy Adams had become famous yet), but there was so much that could have been better, by doing something as simple as adding more interesting dialogue, and fixing the plot to spice it up. I think I'll stick to watching Enchanted and forget all about this movie, and how it was a big disappointment.

I truly like Amy Adams, I think she is a dynamic and versatile actress - but I'm not so sure who told her she could sing! In Enchanted her singing was tolerable because her character needed to have a child like innocence to her voice - so letting go of a note here & there was totally fitting.However she is no where near talented enough as a vocalist to pull off a character who is supposed to be believed as a legitimate Jazz singer! Who ever the casting director - and producers were must have all been tone deaf! The story and use of the music in the movie was unique - however the casting was so pour, that even the fact that it was low budget would have been OK if better actors had of been cast!

Since being a big fan of Amy Adams I just watched this one without knowing anything about it and was pleasantly surprised. I normally don't like movies with this kind of musical theme. I like that they keep the script simple and realistic and most characters felt genuinely real. A different approach was also the use of the songs in the film. They weren't set up like individual numbers like in most musicals, instead they came on and of without warning and in a somewhat repetitive way but it really gave another depth to the mood of the film. The only thing seem a little lowbudget was the camera-work (mostly tripod shots) and the office sets who were very studio looking in a bad way. Finally Amy Adams shines like always and really show how versatile she is as an actress being able to play both drama and comedy.