Raising existential questions about what happens when we die, or the legacy left behind afterward, would be an easy route for any drama to explore, despite being difficult subject matter. The execution of said topic, frequently mishandled in the wrong hands, may be more difficult to perfect. What sci-fi tinged The Greatest Hits gets so right about the experience of loss is its totality of consuming the individual experiencing it. When we are completely enveloped in grief, nothing else matters. The Greatest Hits may at first feel similar to other rom-coms, but the reality tunes into an entirely different wavelength. Using a cacophony of multi-genre songs and honing in on the vulnerability of the human experience, The Greatest Hits crafts a multi-layered story exploring love’s undying power.
Music can pull you back to a moment in time, and for Harriet (Lucy Boynton, Bohemian Rhapsody, Murder on the Orient Express) this phrase is quite literal. Harriet, it appears, has been “haunted by music” since the horrific accident that left her in a coma, and her longterm boyfriend Max (David Corenswet, Ryan Murphy’s Hollywood, upcoming Superman) tragically dead. Now two years later, she has settled into a routine. Harriet makes her way through vinyl after vinyl, instantly transported back in time to a random moment with Max in which the same song plays. She can then stay back in the past with Max for the duration of the tune.
Unlike other time travel movies (especially ones that use it as a plot device), this refuses to call into question whether the fantastical elements only exist in the head of our lead character. The Greatest Hits takes a definitive stance, blatantly proving things are actually occurring. The second that musical notes begin to play, flashes of light and stuttering imagery send Harriet flying into the past, regardless of where she is or what she is doing. An element of danger further emphasizes Harriet’s connection to music. As a result, Harriet has been wearing headphones out and about, so much so that security at her library job gives her the fitting nickname of ‘Headphones.’ If she blocks out the outside noises and music, she can use the headphones as her own form of time-travel blockers.
Boynton endears Harriet to the audience in her portrayal, as Harriet attends counseling and group therapy sessions to deal with the heaviness of her emotional trauma. The obsession with resolving and reliving the relationship she had with Max takes over all else. Harriet spends her days mulling over whether she can actually change anything in the past to affect the future—could there actually be a way to save Max from his untimely fate? Boynton shoulders the dramatic weight of a heavy role with finesse; Harriet fascinates, well before the introduction of a second love interest.
Enter: David (Justin H. Min, After Yang, Shortcomings), love interest #2. David organically meets Harriet at one of her group therapy meetings, and they share an instant connection. Harriet is convinced she knows David from somewhere she cannot seem to place. The two begin to go on casual dates, complete with Harriet donning her headphones to drown out the music. Even two years on from Max, the scars are still so fresh that Harriet has a hard enough time letting go of the past when she isn’t physically reliving it. Do David’s advances even stand a chance with Max still so central in Harriet’s day to day life? Juggling between past-tense Max to present-day David presents interesting quandaries from a scripting level, but screenwriter Ned Benson (Black Widow, The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby) approaches the task with an assured hand. It certainly helps that both Min and Corenswet have sizzling onscreen chemistry with Boynton.
As The Greatest Hits approaches its haunting climax, Harriet’s determination to find a way to save Max’s life threatens to stifle her developing romance with David. Audiences may find themselves torn between the two different camps. How do we honor the ones we lose without forgetting the imprint they left on our hearts? Music reverberates through every frame of The Greatest Hits—a tune as seemingly inconsequential as “KARS-4-KIDS” can rattle Harriet into a past moment. Due to the importance of tracking down the exact right track and reliving ones Harriet has already “tested,” an emphasis on the tunes themselves should satiate any music lover. Delicately blending pleasing melodies with emotional romance and powerful performances, The Greatest Hits may be definite proof that vinyl, at least, will never die.
Dust off the record player and crank up the speakers for The Greatest Hits, sounding off in select theaters on April 5th and exclusively streaming for Hulu subscribers on Friday, April 12th.
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