He may not be playing Ron Swanson, but Nick Offerman in Hearts Beat Loud is still a must-watch.
One day back in 2018, deep in my indie movie phase, I arrived at a tiny little local theater knowing absolutely nothing about the movie I was about to see. All I knew was that the poster looked cute and colorful, which was enough for me. 97 minutes later I walked out of the theater with a fire in my loudly beating heart. Everyone needed to see this movie! How could they not?! It was perfect! And yet, Nick Offerman’s indie comedy-drama Hearts Beat Loud flew so under the radar that I’ve never met anyone else who’s seen it. And that’s criminal. But I have good news: Hearts Beat Loud is on Paramount+ and you can watch it right now.
Written and directed by Brett Haley, Hearts Beat Loud is like a love letter to indie music and the special bond between a daughter and her awesome dad. Frank (Nick Offerman) and his daughter Sam (Kiersey Clemons) love to jam out together, creating the kind of indie songs you’d hear in a quintessential independent coffee shop. On a whim, Frank uploads a few of their songs onto Spotify and, because the music streaming service added them to one of their branded playlists, they become an instant success. Now Frank wants them to be an official band, but his daughter isn’t as excited. See, Sam wants to move away for school, and she’s worried how her dad will take it.
There are so many (spoiler-free) reasons to watch this movie. Here are a few:
We don’t get a lot of movies about a healthy and loving relationship between a single dad and his teenage daughter, so when it happens, it really tugs at the heart. Their relationship is sweet and feels so realistic. Honestly, if you told me that Kiersey Clemons was Nick Offerman’s real daughter, I’d believe you.
When I said this movie was a love letter to indie music, I meant it. Rather than little snippets of songs, most of the music features full-length songs. There’s the original music made for the movie, some of which you can watch Nick Offerman record on-screen. Plus, these original songs are legitimately so good.
Then there’s the soundtrack from other indie artists. While I’d heard of Mitski before this movie, it was a scene of Sam listening to “Your Best American Girl” that got me obsessed with the artist.
If you have 97 minutes free this week, check out Hearts Beat Loud on Paramount+. Still not convinced? Check out the trailer:
