Stream It Or Skip It: ‘I Used to Be Famous’ on Netflix, a Formula Drama About the Unlikely Pairing of a Washed-Up Musician and a Young Upstart

Netflix movie I Used to Be Famous casts a modestly dynamic duo to play an unlikely musical duo: First-time actor Leo Long, a real-life musician who identifies as neurodiverse, and Ed Skrein, who you’ll recognize from Game of Thrones, Deadpool and Midway. The movie’s a heartwarmer for sure, a modest little drama that never, ever seems to consider deviating from formula – and honestly, that may be just fine.

I USED TO BE FAMOUS: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: “This is your time.” Vinnie D (Ed Skrein) hears those words as he’s about to take the stage in front of an arena full of fans. They’re absolutely true. He’s one of two “leaders” of teen-scream boy band Stereo Dream, but this is a scene from 2002. Twenty years later, it’s not his time, not at all. He’s just Vince now. Lines on his face. Wear on his jacket. Crappy little Peckham apartment. Busted keyboard stand – an old ironing board will have to do. He trolleys his gear around to bars, hustling for a gig. Holds his phone up to bartenders’ ears and plays them a snippet of a demo. They’re way more patient with him than they need to be. Maybe they recognize him? He turns on a TV and there’s Austin (Eoin Macken), his former Stereo Dream bandmate, on a talk show, talking up his giganto-tour. Austin has everything and Vince ain’t got squat – just sad memories of his brother. They used to play backyard concerts for their friends and then his brother got sick and died.

He parks on a bench amidst some urban bustle, attaches his keyboards to a battery and starts playing. He has a good riff – it’s something. People side-eye him. One woman gives him shit: Vinnie D, busking, how pathetic. A kid sits on a nearby bench and patters his drumsticks on the metal. Vince asks him to stop but the kid keeps going anyway, and they kinda lock in. The kid’s mother scoops him up and takes him away and Vince packs up and heads home and the next day he starts the gig-beg again and stops by a church for a bite from the free-food buffet and hears drumming and wanders into a room with a circle of people playing congas and there’s the kid. Stevie (Leo Long). He’s autistic, and this is a music therapy session, and the instructor (Kurt Egyiawan) invites Vince to join. So he joins.

Stevie’s not really a kid. He’s 18. His mother, Amber (Eleanor Matsuura), is overprotective – understandably so. He has episodes. But he’s one hell of a drummer, and dreams of going to a conservatory. Vince wants to jam and Amber stands in the way and they argue and Stevie has an episode but Vince patters on his knees just like in therapy class and brings him out of it. Vince finds out that their impromptu parkbench jam was filmed and put on the internet just like everything that ever happens ever, but not everything gets this many views. Vince uses that humble notoriety to land them a gig. And so, an unlikely friendship occurs as Amber hovers nervously. Will all this include little triumphs and tribulations and end up exactly how we expect it to? Probably.

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: I Used to Be Famous is kinda like The Soloist (Jamie Foxx as a homeless musical prodigy, Robert Downey Jr. as the journalist who befriends him) crossed with Temple Grandin (Clare Danes as renowned autistic scientist) crossed with the boy band from Turning Red. Kinda.

Performance Worth Watching: Long proves to be a pretty good actor in his first acting role – authentic, well-modulated emotionally, and showing a good sense of dramatic and comedic timing.

Memorable Dialogue: Vince learns that Stevie likes Jack DeJohnette and Bach:

Vince: You could be the next Bach.

Stevie: Why would I want to be Bach? I’m me.

Sex and Skin: None.

Our Take: Stevie has dreams – of being a professional musician. But his mother would rather not see him take any risks. Vince has dreams – of staging a comeback. But maybe he just needs to let that go. Maybe simply playing music together is exactly what they need to break out of their ruts. It’s a cold, hard world out there; Vince has seen a little too much of it, and Stevie, too little. Vince and Stevie push themselves outside their comfort zones, and are rewarded for it. Opportunities present themselves, but are they the right ones?

The answer, of course, as it always is and always shall be, is to follow your heart. Deep sigh? Maybe. Director Eddie Sternberg never saw a cliche he didn’t like, but I Used to Be Famous – which he adapted from his 2015 short film of the same name – is imbued with enough amiability of character to keep it afloat. The director stages scenes of almost ruthless predictability, and indulges a few well-worn character types, and stretches credibility a few times. But the end result is nevertheless acceptable, with a kind of reticent charm in the performances, which give Stevie and Vince the lived-in warmth to keep us interested in their story and emotionally invested in their well-being. It’s gentle comfort food for the soul; you could do far, far worse.

Our Call: STREAM IT. You’d have to have a pretty hard heart to not be moved by I Used to Be Famous, even just a little bit.

John Serba is a freelance writer and film critic based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Read more of his work at johnserbaatlarge.com.