Wasted talent.
On paper, Hearts Beat Loud looks fantastic: It stars Nick Offerman as Frank, the owner of a struggling Brooklyn record store and the single father of Sam (Kiersey Clemons, of Dope and Transparent), who’s romancing her first girlfriend while preparing to move to the West Coast for college. It’s even got Toni Collette as Frank’s landlord/love interest and Ted Danson as his friend and permanently stoned bartender!
But the crux of the weak dramedy is Frank’s unfolding midlife crisis—he’s widowed, his business is failing, his daughter is going away for school—and his desire to transform casual jam sessions with the musically gifted Sam into a real band (called, naturally, We’re Not a Band).