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A Nashville Wish
Ticket to Nashville
USA 2024
produced by Robin Capehart, Mark Popadic, Frank Thomas Parker, Demetrius Navarro, Stephen Emmett Jackson (executive), Niraj Bhatia (executive), Dan Burks (executive), Markus Niepraschk (executive) for Move Your Media, Brentwood Entertainment, Om Films, Crowned Pictures, D Street Films
directed by Demetrius Navarro
starring Maxfield Camp, Kaileigh Bullard, Alexis Gomez, Lee Greenwood, Fletcher Olson, Molly Malady, Kevin Sizemore, Kourtney Hansen, Ryan O'Quinn, Kate Orsini, Waylon Payne, T. Graham Brown, Caleb Shore, Candace Randolph, Craig Shoemaker, Erlinda Navarro, Demetrius Navarro, Lindey Nale, Ashley Hultman, Grace Davis, Channing Combs, Mary Claire Hooker
story by Robin Capehart, Ty DeMartino, screenplay Ty DeMartino, music by Kevin Dorsey
review by Mike Haberfelner
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High school student Tucker (Maxfield Camp) lives on a farm somewhere in
rural smalltown USA, but he has big dreams to one day move to Nashville to
become a singer/songwriter in his own right. And he sure has the talent as
well as the drive, and his parents (Kevin Sizemore, Kourtney Hansen) and
grandfather (Lee Greenwood) support his dream, and so does his best friend
Chewy (Fletcher Olson), who plans on accompanying him to Nashville as his
manager. But there's still high school to master, and he also has to
finally ask out the girl he has long admired from afar, Lisa (Kaileigh
Bullard), a girl born into money and or the country club jet set. But when
Tucker actually does ask her out to a country concert by singing sensation
Cassie Jo Campbell (Alexis Gomez), she's all for it, and the sparks soon
fly. The two have a romance, and suddenly going to Nashville drops further
and further on Tucker's agenda, so much so that he fails to save up for
it, much to the distress of Chewy - and also of Lisa's parents (Ryan
O'Quinn, Kate Orsini), who have long pretty much planned for her to marry
clean-cut Denny (Caleb Shore), who's also born into money and him and his
parents are members of the same country club as Lisa and family. Suddenly
though, Chewy is offered a lot of money by a person unknown if he gets
Tucker on the bus to Nashville the very next day and sees to it that Lisa
stays behind - which he only achieves by blatantly lying to both Tucker
and Lisa ... In Nashville, Tucker and Chewy soon have to learn the hard
way that success doesn't grow on trees, and even after months, they have
only come as far as to be the clean-up crew in a music club. Plus.
Tucker's heart isn't really in it, as it's still broken from having lost
Lisa. Then though he has to return to his hometown for the funteral of a
family friend (Candace Randolph), and he uses that occasion to try to make
up with Lisa - only to learn she has since gotten engaged to Denny, and he
also finds out who it actually was who has torn them apart - and what he
finds out is less than pretty ... Ok, it probably helps to be
into country music to really love this film, which I have to admit I'm
not. But that said, at least some tunes actually sound not bad at all for
a non-fan, and how they're included in the film, in sometimes musical-like
interludes, is at least inspired. The story in the meantime for the most
time follows your typical romance formula ... until it doesn't, and the
film does a great job with not giving the audience the happy ending
everyone had already anticipated. Acting wise, the whole ensemble does a
good job at keeping things relatable, but special mention ought to go to
Kaileigh Bullard as Lisa, who really steals every scene she's in, thanks
to her wit and poise. So if you're not into country music and romances at
all, you might to stay away from this, but with a bit of an open mind you
might actually enjoy this quite a bit more than you've expected to.
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