The Greatest Hits film is a romantic fantasy  written, produced, and directed by Ned Benson. The film starring Lucy Boynton, Justin H. Min, David Corenswet, and Austin Crute had its world premiere at South by Southwest on March 14, 2024, was released in select theaters by Searchlight Pictures on April 5, 2024, and released for streaming on Hulu on April 12th.

David: “I love how music can do that.”

Harriet, “What?”

David: “Pull you back to some moment in time.”

We all get nostalgic listening to certain songs and may even feel flooded by memories, but “The Greatest Hits” has a modern spin on love, loss, grief, trauma, and exploring the butterfly effect / sliding door theory of whether the characters play a role in their own fate. The film uses fantasy and realism to explain time travels through music. It follows the life of a young woman, Harriet (Lucy Boynton), grappling with the loss of her beloved partner and dealing with the strange phenomenon of going back in time to relive moments with her boyfriend Max (David Corenswet) whenever she listens to songs tied to significant moments in the past.

The movie begins showing main character Harriet’s daily routine, wearing headphones everywhere she goes in public, going to group therapy (shout out to actress Retta for her small role as Dr. Evelyn) being in the music scene in LA but no working after the tragic accident that kills Max and leaves her with a traumatic brain injury. Harriet’s TBI causes her to go back in time whenever she hears memorable songs tied to the love of her life, Max. Throughout the movie there are stark contrasts between Harriet’s life before and after the accident. After the accident Harriet struggles to cope with being haunted by music and trying to create a new normal while at the same time desperately trying to pinpoint the song leading up to the accident so she can try save her boyfriend Max.

When Harriett meets new love interest David (Justin H. Min) she is challenged to step out of her comfort zone and ultimately torn between trying to rewrite the past and get back to the love of her life, Max, to save him and fighting to live her life in the present. The plot of The Greatest’s Hits has a firm grip on viewers dying to know what happens next by poetically unraveling new possibilities. The more we piece together the more the characters’ lives spiral leaving their fates hanging in the balance.

Layered behind a list of records and hit songs is a depiction of living with grief that lasts forever. Although Harriett has got to great lengths, after the accident, to distance herself from music that triggers her time travel. after the accident to avoid getting pulled back to the past, it is painstakingly obvious she is stuck between grieving and longing for the life she had with Max. Which is evident by the list of songs she has traveled to and a timeline of every memory, some of which she purposely listens to revisit certain moments from her past and try to stop Max from dying.

Warranted or not, her time travel increasingly worsens when she begins to hang out with David in public without and gets triggered and pulled back into the past. The audience is left wondering whether she will find a way to save Max or find normalcy out in the world with David.  but gets triggered by songs played in public which jeopardizes her health and well-being in the present. No spoiler alerts but I love a twist of fate, reimagined film that tampers with reality in a serendipitous kind of way.

The heart of this film is love/loss/fate is one unescapable for all of us. Unless you’re locked in a tower away from all human contact and even then. I was sucked into Harriet’s emotional experience to guess the ending. It was intriguing watching the plot unfold. I very much enjoyed Harriet (Boynton) and new love interest David (Min) helped each other and discuss the what ifs of the future and the past.

No spoilers, this ending will anger some people. 50% of people will love the ending and understand the writer’s creative direction. The other 50% will be like I’m sorry, no. The theme of this movie (grief, trauma, time travel) does not dictate the vibe which is light-hearted and upbeat with a whimsical undertone. Contrary to popular belief, there is no right or wrong way to grieve so it would be unconscionable to critic the movie for not be a drama. Nor is it fair to judge the main character Harriet for not being as broken or devasted as you the view deems appropriate.

Harriet is fixated on changing the past and constant ruminating about every aspect of her life with Max and resilient effort to stop him from dying is 100% evident of her grief. I am not going to critique how her grief was portrayed or evident of fantasizing about a past relationship that may or may not have been end game, ride, or die, happily ever after type of relationship we believe it to be. I bought into the fantasy a bit as many of us hopeless romantics do; there is a magic to first loves. The audience sees all happy moments between Harriet and boyfriend Max when she travels back to visit him. However, the movie also shows conversations between Harriet and her best friend Morris (played by Austin Crute) as his wisdom and probing questions reveal she and her boyfriend may not have had the most compatible relationship.

It was intriguing trying to piece together the plot and logically explain the timeline of events and why the occurred. What do music and audio industry nerds think about this film? Apart from Harriet’s dark and depressing apartment, the film has incredibly sharp visuals on location in LA, the props, and sets were bright and enamoring.

Using songs to explore hoping through time was fun. The standout performance goes to beautiful and talented Boynton for her captivating portrayal of a rollercoaster of emotions, and Min for his charm and winning likability on screen. I was disappointed by the lack of chemistry between David and Harriet. Their connection was meaningful and believably significant, but it would be more believable if they were friends instead. Because let me tell you, plenty of viewers will be taken aback by the beautiful Corenswet who is distractingly good looking and wishing he had more screentime and Harriet and Max were cute together. Just saying!