Institute History
Description
As single dad Frank (Nick Offerman) prepares to send hardworking daughter Sam (Kiersey Clemons) off to UCLA pre-med, he also reluctantly realizes he has to accept that his own record-store business is failing. Hoping to stay connected with his daughter through their shared love of music, he urges her to turn their weekly “jam sesh” into an actual band. Channeling Sam’s resistance into a band name, they unexpectedly find We’re Not a Band’s first song turning into a minor Spotify hit, and they use their songwriting efforts to work through their feelings about the life changes each of them faces.
Offerman and Clemons provide genuine warmth and chemistry as father and daughter, and they collaborate spiritedly on their characters’ catchy, heartfelt musical offerings, while Toni Collette and Sasha Lane contribute charming and multi-faceted performances of their own as the pair’s respective potential love interests. Director Brett Haley (a Sundance Film Festival alum with I’ll See You in My Dreams and The Hero) foregrounds sincerity and affection in this gentle, evocative ode to the bittersweetness of everyday life.