Rose-Lynn Harlan (Jessie Buckley) is back home, all blue denim and white cowboy boots, a song on her lips and a dream of becoming a country music star still burning in her heart. She also has an electronic tag on her ankle, the fiercely proud Marion (Julie Walters) as her mother and a young daughter she's never really connected with. "I should have been born in America" she says, but this is Glasgow, not Nashville, and life as an ex-prisoner isn't easy.
Nor are her familial relationships. Marion has done a fine job of bringing up her granddaughter and has no wish to see her work undone by her wayward child. At the same time she's strongly protective of both, and has a better understanding of those country dreams than Rose-Lynn suspects.
She finds a job as a cleaner to the wealthy Susannah (Sophie Okenodo) who, inspired by Rose-Lynn's vocals on hoovering duties, tries to help her get a break into radio. But the pressures of holding all the conflicting elements of her life together eventually prove to be too much. The chance to realise her Nashville ambitions might turn up, but could it ever match the dream?
Despite moments that are as syrupy and emotionally manipulative as the lyrics she belts out, and the sense of cliche being piled on cliche like a stack of blueberry pancakes, the film is more than carried along by the energy of the script and music, and the strong performances of all three leads. Buckley has one hell of a voice, Walters brings depth to her character, and a special mention to Okenodo who has the most difficult job of steering away from becoming a parody of the middle class do-gooder. And there's a satisfying ending that's less obvious than it could have been.
Enjoyable.
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