Of course, the acting goes a long way towards making this believable, and no one disappoints. Bardwell is charming and has a great singing voice, so his longing to achieve his dream contrasted against his commitment to have a stable life for Millie both make total sense. His chemistry with McMahon is undeniably strong and reinforces their growing attraction wonderfully. For her part, McMahon makes the oddly distant Kat quite lovable and endearing. She handles the more dramatic beats perfectly while flawlessly selling the mostly lighthearted tone.
The supporting cast is just as strong. The younger Bardwell is just the cutest, and she’s a natural on camera, selling her love for her on-screen father and his songs succinctly. Even Weber makes Lauren more than just the nagging, frustrated wife. Given the way certain scenes play out (chunks of exposition are told in flashback), Weber could have leaned into her character’s salacious and evil aspects, but she keeps it grounded, finding the humanity in her.
“…catchy tunes, amusing jokes, and brilliant casting.”
Unfortunately, Sold Out is not all catchy tunes, amusing jokes, and brilliant casting. Around one hour and 15-minutes in, Kat finally opens up to John about her past. After listening to her, John tells Kat, “I’m so sorry.” She replies, “I don’t need pity…” This, the height of dramatic catharsis of the entire narrative, is immediately followed by the duo recruiting band members for an upcoming show. Unfortunately, the tonal shift is so jarring and awkward that the film never quite recovers fully. Granted, the film has less than 20-minutes left when this information is divulged, so…
But yeah, at a breezy 91-minutes, Brightbill and Dahlseid could have added a few more interludes after the fact to build back up to the lightness. Plus, the very end doesn’t quite work. They’re going for a Sideways sort of deal, but it feels abrupt.
Sold Out switches tones so close to the end it is jarring, and trying to reacclimate to the more humorous side of things is a bit awkward. On top of that, while not bad, the ending is not as satisfying as it could have been had the film been slightly longer. But, the romantic comedy still fires on all cylinders thanks to the three-dimensional characters and the reasonably grounded and realistic plot. Add in the stunning, superb work of every actor who shows up, and one is left with a very engaging, if flawed, work that is absolutely worth checking out.
"…when is an underdog story not one?"
