Of all the ways a film can fail, the most disappointing is when script, execution and tone show great promise during the first two acts...
...and then everything goes to hell during the third act, leaving viewers unsatisfied, and with an expression of bewildered “what the heck?”
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| Upon arrival at each client's home, Harry (Dustin Hoffman) does all the talking and glad-handing, while the genial and mostly silent Niki (Leo Woodall) focuses on tuning an often unloved piano. |
Until the final half hour, anyway.
Niki White (Leo Woodall) and long-time New York City piano tuner Harry Horowitz (Dustin Hoffman) are introduced during an amusing montage of their various assignments, mostly for wealthy clients. Harry, once a close friend of Niki’s late father, has become absent-minded, and is losing his hearing.
Niki’s initial position as apprentice has blossomed into something much closer to a family bond; Harry’s wife, Marla (Tovah Feldshuh, marvelous as always) dotes on the young man, as does Harry.
At work, Harry and Niki are an amusing Mutt ’n’ Jeff pair, with the former’s easygoing manner and motor-mouthed, often off-topic chatter wholly at odds with the younger man’s cheerful patience, frequently rolled eyes, and focused, measured responses. Harry always dresses “nicely,” although his clothes appear several styles out of date; Niki favors dark jumpsuits. We get the impression that his wardrobe — and lifestyle — are simple and minimal.
Harry is a longtime jazz aficionado, and frequently regales Niki with back-in-the-day encounters with cats such as Herbie Hancock, who gave Harry the amusing nickname — “Tuner Fish” — by which he’s often greeted. Niki takes such stories with a dubious grain of salt.
Further in that vein, Will Bates’ jazz-inflected original score often is interrupted by snatches of familiar tunes by Dave Brubeck, Hancock, Oscar Peterson, Nina Simone and several others.
Hoffman is a hoot in this role, his manner repeatedly shifting between impish, impatient and nostalgic, and back again. He effortlessly steals focus, although Woodall possesses plenty of his own quiet charm (amply displayed in his role as the hunky park ranger, in last year’s Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy).
