A female reporter hunts for a long-missing and presumed dead rock star in what sounds, on paper, suspiciously like the 1983 sleeper “Eddie and the Cruisers,’’ but turns out to be a low-key, solidly acted indie charmer from director Megan Griffiths.
The twist in “Lucky Them’’ is that rock journalist Ellie Krug (Toni Collette) is also the ex-girlfriend of Matthew Smith, a vaguely Kurt Cobain-ish Seattle musician who is believed to have jumped from the top of a waterfall a decade earlier following an argument with her.
Not exactly a hard worker, the middle-aged Ellie is more interested in shagging younger musicians than doing an anniversary piece — at least until her longtime boss at Stax magazine (Oliver Pratt), facing dwindling circulation and oblivion, threatens to fire her unless she complies.
She promptly misplaces $1,000 he gives her to pursue a dubious-sounding tip that Matthew may still be alive.
But she finds alternate funding from an eccentric billionaire she used to date (Thomas Hayden Church, delightful in his best performance since “Sideways’’).
He wants to make a documentary on her search, and they set out in an enormous, newly purchased RV to pursue leads, including visits with scam artists and Matthew’s elderly dad, who is less than thrilled to see Ellie show up.
Alternating with these trips is Ellie’s latest fling, a 20-something musician (Ryan Eggold) who’s trying very hard to get Ellie to take him seriously as a romantic partner.
Working from a reportedly semi-autobiographical script co-authored by Emily Wachtel (who, in real life, wrote under the name Ellie Krug), director Griffiths starts out somewhat tentatively, but the film gains momentum and uses its impressive cast well.
The film’s climax turns on a cameo appearance by a very big star (whom I won’t identify) that could easily have turned into a stunt but proves to be dramatically quite satisfying.
Ahna O’Reilly is very funny as Church’ s flaky fiancée, and Broadway star Nina Arianda lends solid support as Colette’s bartender pal.
“Lucky Them’’ is clearly a labor of love for all involved. Listen carefully on the soundtrack and you’ll hear the voice of Joanne Woodward as Ellie’s mom. Woodward is one of the executive producers of this lovely little film, which is dedicated to her late husband, Paul Newman.