I gave it a 7.5 out of 10

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Terrible plot premise ("I want to marry a baby!" WTF?). Horrid direction and stiff Phantom Menace level acting across the board (at least with PM the actors had the excuse of "green screen stare"). Some of the most on-the-nose, painful dialogue I have heard this side of an after school special. And don't get me started on the awful 90s fashions...hooboy. Some decent actors in this, but they all seemed lost and confused...which was welcome company to my own bewilderment. I can't believe I wasn't time watching this thing. I kind of imagine this thing was made by some sort of automated bad script writing program.It wasn't even "so bad it's good"...it was just bad.

Music From Another Room is a film that makes you fall in love with movies and that perfect girl you've always had a crush on but never dated.Simple in it essence, yet, if you explore it further it must have been truly a labor of love.It begins with 5 year old Danny helping his father a Military Doctor to deliver a baby girl when her birth was held up by a pair of coiled umbilical cord around her neck.Little Danny later vows to marry the baby girl when he grows up.Flash 25 years into the future,5 year old boy has now morphed into Jude Law(Danny) and baby girl is now the lovely Gretchen Mol(Anna Swan)all blonde and gorgeous.Danny,lately just back into the neighborhood of Los Angeles after spending 25 years in London has just broken up with his girlfriend.As fate would have it,boy meets girl again (Jude Law meets Gretchen Mol)The catch is,Girl is engaged to be married to a rich,stuffy and decidedly boring Eric.Will boy win girl?Will fate intervene?Will true love triumph?Are they meant for one another?Or was it all just an interesting experience 25 years ago?I saw Music From Another Room in 2004 on cable TV at a time when I was an intern in Paediatrics.I guess it was the opening track 'Day after Day' by Julian Lennon that persuaded me to sit down and watch this quaint little film.Seeing Jude Law as one of the credited actors was also a bonus.This movie was so many things at so many level for me.I was in LOVE with this cute pharmacist at the hospital where I was working and I was in need of some inspiration.She was already seeing someone at the time much like Anna Swan was when Danny stumbled into her again after 25 years.Seeing Danny's passion for Anna was my encouragement to throw caution aside and pursue without fear or shame.Danny's love was indeed so enormous it spills into everyone's life in the movie and indeed including mine.Passion makes you do crazy things and it is passion and love that truly inspires.I even borrowed Danny's love poem to woo that cute pharmacist. 'Wanted,wanted Anna Swan etc,Armed and dangerous is Anna Swan,My heart a bell already struck etc etc'I thought it was such a delightfully witty,endearing and charming little poem and still do!I thought that Jude Law and Gretchen Mol made a very lovely couple indeed.The chemistry was tangible and the attraction was undeniable.Whilst Jude Law was undoubtedly the Star of the film it was Gretchen Mol's Anna Swan that caught my heart whilst Jude Law's Danny gave the movie its' Heart.Gretchen Mol's character Anna Swan struck a chord with me.I could only wish that I too like Danny could one day end up with someone remotely like her in the future.The melding of classical literature,that of the late great Russian novelist Leo Tolstoys' Anna Karenina with contemporary character was sheer genius.I think Charlie Peter had it spot on at the ending, reuniting Danny with Anna his true love at the train station.Life should always be this good!Danny's range of expression throughout the entire movie conveyed his character's feeling remarkably well and Gretchen Mol's portrayal of Anna's own inner conflict torn between passion for Danny and guilt over Eric was extremely touching.She was perfect for the role and so lovely! I loved her look of adoration for Danny when she stole a glance at him as Eric read the anonymous poem written by Danny to Anna during the garden party and her expression of rapt anticipation and expectation at both the coin tossing scene first at Klammer's bakery and later at the train station as Danny was about to leave for Atlanta.Despite the movie's flaw as pointed out by so many before me,Music from Another Room is still my favorite romantic comedy.It is its little imperfections that makes it truly a unique gem.Only the wearer could appreciate it for its sentimental value.Congratulations to both Jude Law and Gretchen Mol for convincing and spirited performances and writer/director Charlie Peter for sharing with us his delightful little vision.Music from Another Room is my idea of that perfect little movie that is both beautiful and charming in its simplicity that manages to restores one's faith in Love,Passion and Fate.It is truly a heart warming tale that I urge new viewers to share with your loved ones.

"Music From Another Room" is certainly recommended viewing, for what it is and despite what it fails to be. "Writer" Charlie Peters constructed as good a screenplay as you will ever find in the "straight" romantic genre. Unfortunately there is a failure in the execution as "director" Charlie Peters drops the ball in his casting decisions and in his efforts to extract the necessary performances from the two leads, Jude Law (Danny) and Gretchen Mol (Anna). And solid efforts from the supporting cast are not enough to make up for these key deficiencies.Peters' story was inspired by Tolstoy's "Anna Karenina". It is Danny's fate, shortly after arriving in town, to stumble across Grace Swan (Brenda Blethyn) and her family who he has not seen since he was five. "Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way". At age five he had assisted his physician father in delivering daughter Anna (like the book the family's three daughters are named Anna, Karen, and Nina). Seconds after Anna's birth, 5 year-old Danny had vowed that they would one day be married. But there is no indication in the screenplay that the grown-up Danny has come to town for this purpose, on the contrary he came to be with another woman who he has fallen in love with but who dumps him and moves away shortly after his arrival.Peters should get credit for a great title, as "Music From Another Room" is a metaphor Danny uses to illustrate how he has felt in the past when he was in love. The idea being that love is like listening to a favorite song playing in the distance and coming back on the same beat of the song when it has been periodically drowned out by closer noises.He should also get credit for the originality of the two-headed coin flip sequence; which sets up the film's resolution according to the flip of a regular coin. The irony being the characters' ability to flip this device of randomness/destiny into an exercise of their free will.Although not a comedy, the film is has a lot of charm and some funny moments. Even with its flaws it is better than average but this does leave you regretting that Peters did not recognize his limitations as a director and bring in someone who could have better executed the ambitious vision of his screenplay.The problem is that the quirky and original elements, which make the screenplay so good, require exceptional performances from the lead characters who must non-verbally convey a whole lot of character motivation as well as several moments of profound revelation. For "actors" up to this challenge (and for a skilled director), the roles offer a wonderful "acting for the camera" opportunity. For Law, Mol, and Peters it is way too much to ask and the result is strained and unconvincing. Which means that the mixes of sadness and joy, fate and free will, ignorance and revelation never achieve the dimensionality they should have. The failure to fill in the blanks with behavioral information combined with elements that were deleted in the editing process introduces an element of incoherence that ultimate undermines an excellent story.Law (who has certainly demonstrated acting ability in most of his films)has stated that he regrets doing "Music From Another Room" and that he let himself be talked into the part. This may actually be true as he certainly gives very little of himself to the performance. The interesting thing is that the part actually has more potential than roles he has chosen and into which he has thrown a lot of energy.Brenda Blethyn and Jane Adams turn in great performances and one can only wish that Adams and Mol had traded parts.Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.

But it didn't come out right. It's as if they started out to make a serious film and then handed it over to a Wes Anderson type at the last minute. Plot lines that start in a good direction turn unexpectedly goofy. And some side plots that are meant to add humor--Martha Plimpton and her gun, for instance--are simply annoying.Jude Law plays a scrawny bakery delivery boy who doesn't know when to shut up, and Gretchen Mol is the uptight sophisticate of her family who is already engaged to a man who is perfect for her. He drives the right car and bails her family out financially--she needs those things. So when he wants to buy her a book for her birthday instead of a flowered knit cap--well, Gretchen's character isn't the flowered knit cap type, and all the romantic lecturing of Jude's character about the hat vs. the book, however right in theory, doesn't change that. The movie never satisfactorily established why Gretchen would fall for Jude--in fact, the scene (SPOILER ALERT) where Gretchen and Jude get together, and then the next day she can hardly look at him--that was true to character. What happened later was not.The best and most believable characters in the film were the mother, well acted by Brenda Blethyn, and the blind sister (Meg Tilly) and her boyfriend, Jesus. I loved Jesus! One last comment--whoever chose the music for this film should be shot--there's one really bad top-40 pop song that cues in more than once when Jude and Gretchen go for the kiss, and it cheapens the scenes.