The Kinks have the peculiar distinction of being simultaneously legendary and tragically underrated. As far as I'm concerned, Ray Davies and company should be mentioned in the same breath as The Beatles, The Who and other British luminaries of the 1960s– as it stands, this happens almost exclusively in the internet, where legions of obnoxious bloggers bray indignantly about how underrated they are. I am glad to join their ranks with this post.
This wonderfully odd film is not so much about The Kinks themselves as it is about a man coming to grips with the end of his youth. Geoff Edgers, reporter for the Boston Globe and avid Kinks fanatic, in a wide- eyed quest to remind the world of how amazing the band was, decides to try to get them back together. He initiates a campaign that involves everything from busking in Hyde Park to coercing his interview subjects into joining him on impromptu singalongs of their favorite Kinks tunes (which provides plenty of comedic awkwardness to the whole ordeal– Paul Weller outright refuses, Sting embarrasses himself by forgetting the words to "You Really Got Me", and Zooey Deschanel, surprisingly, turns out to be the most knowledgeable and enthusiastic of all interviewees).
The film itself hinges on the likability of Edgers and his contagious enthusiasm for the project– with his stuttering rants on the power of music and his endearingly awkward demeanor, we pull for him as an audience, even knowing that his quest may be futile. In the end, it's a lesson in humility, managing expectations and letting go. The scene playing as the credits roll is a rousing acoustic rendition of Weird Al's parody of Kinks classic "Lola"– "Yoda"– delivered in a classroom full of preschoolers. After 90 minutes of following Edgers around trying hard to get his favorite back together, it's a bittersweet moment that manages to weave humor and music into something sublime.
