There Goes Somebody's Miracle...

You know, I'm praying for it.

  • Reviews
  • Food
  • Travel
  • Just This
  • About

Explore

  • All Reviews
  • Movies
  • Books
  • @ Third Coast Review
  • Film Work

Connect

Movies · May 31, 2017

Review: Band Aid

I don’t remember exactly when I became a fan of Zoe Lister-Jones, but it happened at some point, because now I follow her on Instagram. Last July, she posted a headline that she’d be making her directorial debut with Band Aid, a feature she also wrote and would produce and star in.

By January, that little feature was not only shot and picture locked, but it enjoyed a premiere at Sundance. In May, it screened as part of the Chicago Critics Film Festival, where I was able to catch it during a week jam-packed with great films.

In a matter of months, I’d seen a film go from announcement to festivals and then to theaters. A rapid timeline by anyone’s standards! And something about this one – an original script by an already successful actress – made it particularly intriguing. This is creating, this is making art, making something from nothing.

It’s not a dig against it to say the movie isn’t anything monumental. Nothing explodes, there’s no big special effects. Instead, it’s a modern, original relationship comedy, one that finds its stride in the chemistry between Lister-Jones and Adam Pally as a married couple on the rocks who decide to turn their fights into songs for their new band. 

Though a few scenes feel a bit too on the nose (including the one where Anna (Lister-Jones) just says, “We should turn our fights into songs” in order to keep the plot moving), overall it’s a smart contemporary take on long-term relationships and interpersonal connections in an age where trends change by the tweet and relationships live and die on a text message.

Anna and Ben have been married for a minute, and their life has settled into an understandable predictability, with shades of arrested development. She’s an Uber driver, he’s a designer who works from home (so he doesn’t always need to wear pants). Their friends are all having kids, while they’re getting stoned at those kids’ birthday parties. Freedom, sure; but it’s also wearing on them, as they watch their crew grow up and move on around them.

Of course, there’s something more significant going on between these two, and its in this storyline where the very funny film finds its humanity. I won’t spoil it for your here, but suffice it to say this isn’t just two thirty-somethings delaying adulthood and channeling their petty arguments about the dishes into rock songs.

Although they do that, too.

She picks up a bass, he grabs a guitar and they loop in their kooky neighbor Dave (Fred Armisen, ever the scene stealer) as their drummer. Voila, a garage band! The fights prove to be fun fodder for the new group, and they put together enough angry rock to claim a spot at an open mic night. Better than therapy, soon Ben and Anna are happier than either can remember being in ages.

But that unspoken truth is still just under the surface of their relationship, and Lister-Jones flexes her screenwriting muscles deftly as it pokes its head out again in the third act. No power ballad or rock anthem can drown out the reality of this couple’s real-life struggles. They fight through this one, finally getting to the core of their problems (and it’s not dishes). And this time, it’s not with guitars in their hands.

Funny and sharp, Band Aid is great when Ben and Anna are belting out their grievances; the music (also written by the very talented Lister-Jones) hits the mark quite well (as well it should, given the premise). But where the movie really clicks is in between rehearsals, when Anna and Ben leave the petty fights and the songs they write about them on the stage and do the hard work of saving their marriage, of being vulnerable and real. That’s where Lister-Jones has made a movie with an honesty and personality that makes it a welcome, if quiet, addition to an otherwise boisterous, noisy summer movie season.


BAND AID – dir Zoe Lister-Jones. Written by Zoe Lister-Jones. Starring Zoe Lister-Jones, Adam Pally, Fred Armisen. Opens theatrically Friday, June 2; available wide on June 9. Official Site

Passes the Bechdel Test: Yes
Passes the DuVernay Test: No

Share this:

  • Click to share on X (Opens in new window) X
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window) LinkedIn
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window) Tumblr

Posted By: Lisa Trifone · In: Movies

Walk With Me
Extra, Extra

You’ll Also Love

2021 [in film]
Review: Eric Rohmer’s Tales of the Four Seasons
Review: Some Kind of Heaven

Get on the List

About Photo
Hello! I'm Lisa, and this is—or rather I am—Somebody's Miracle. Explore everything I'm watcing, reading and baking, all my far-flung adventures and ones closer to home. Thanks for reading.

Connect

Get on the List

Subscribe for the latest posts, musings and updates directly in your inbox.

Categories

  • Reviews
  • Food
  • Travel
  • Just This
  • About

Search

From the Archives

May 2025
S M T W T F S
 123
45678910
11121314151617
18192021222324
25262728293031
« Jul    

lisabeesa

Two years ago today, I was coming off what - until Two years ago today, I was coming off what - until that point - was the biggest adventure of my life. I bought a home. I turned 40. I spent a month in Paris. I’d hit a new career milestone. Life was every bit what I imagined it could be. 

Then I walked into a first date with a guy I met on the internet and very quickly realized my (our!) best adventure had just begun. 

Two years of getting my goat (and delighting in it), because you love to see me laugh. Two years of not just making dinners but plating them, too, because you know I like a pretty plate. Two years of grand gestures not because you’re big on gestures, but because I am.

I thought I had it all figured out, and I think I would’ve been fine if you’d never walked into my life. But good grief am I glad you did. ❤️
🎄 Holiday Playlist! 🎄 It's my favorite trad 🎄 Holiday Playlist! 🎄

It's my favorite tradition (of so many!) of the season: my annual holiday playlist. Twenty-four songs. Two hours of tunes.

Sabrina Carpenter and The Kinks. My Morning Jacket and Kacey Musgraves. Ben Folds and Bette Midler and Bad Religion. 

You can listen on Spotify at the link in my bio!

Happy, happy holidays to you and yours. Wishing you a joyful season!
I’d watch Pablo Larrain’s version of paint dry I’d watch Pablo Larrain’s version of paint drying, but thankfully his latest biopic of a famous, troubled woman (after JACKIE and SPENCER) is a far more engaging fever dream of passing time and missed opportunities.

MARIA, featuring a performance by Angelina Jolie that vibrates with vulnerability, is not perfect but it is fascinating. 

Now in theaters; on Netflix next month. Full review at the link!
My phone yelled at me this morning that I was out My phone yelled at me this morning that I was out of storage space, so over a couple cups of coffee I went back through this year’s photos and videos to purge what I don’t need on my device. 

Stumbled on this snap Brian took of me over dinner back in…June?…and honestly, I just love it. I love the way he sees me and I love the way I look when I see him. ❤️

Take care of each other. That’s all.
Eight years ago this week, @justin.f.brady and I w Eight years ago this week, @justin.f.brady and I went to see @waitressmusical on Broadway, and after the show we were treated to full band karaoke with die-hard fans. 

At the end of the show tunes lovefest, @sarabareilles—who wrote the show’s music and was hosting the karaoke—took to the mic to perform Brave, and it was more cathartic than I think any of us realized in the moment. 

It was the night before the 2016 election and none of us were (looking back now) as worried as we should have been. I had early voted, the wind seemed to be at @hillaryclinton’s back and we were ready for history to be made. 

I’ve thought about (and talked about) that moment a lot in the years since - it’s a great story! But especially today, as we’re on the eve of another monumental Election Day, I am imploring anyone reading this who may still be unsure or may not yet have a plan to be brave and vote for the person who is NOT a convicted criminal, serial sexual assaulter, con-man and dictator-in-waiting. @kamalaharris is the only way forward.

We can get back to debating policy in four years. For now, please vote for humanity, for democracy, for decency and for sanity. I wanna see you be brave.
Signs of life! 👋 I feel like I’ve been in a Signs of life! 👋 

I feel like I’ve been in a fog the last week or so, and it’s going to last at least through Tuesday…but I’m here, I promise!

Got to catch @musictheaterworks’ LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS (with the lovely @yersha_la_la_la for company!) and it was delightful. Great production with just a hint of that community theater patina, a bit rough around the edges. (Is it just me or is that S in “Florist” totally upside down?!)

Full review coming soon at @thirdcoastreview!
This one gets a spot on the grid! Congrats to Drew This one gets a spot on the grid! Congrats to Drew and Jean on a beautiful wedding day and the start of an exciting new chapter. (But really, thanks for such a great reason to wear my new favorite dress! 😉)
I absolutely love this time of year. 🍂🍁 I absolutely love this time of year. 🍂🍁
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy
  • Site Disclosure

Copyright © 2025 There Goes Somebody's Miracle... · Theme by 17th Avenue

 

Loading Comments...