The High Note

We’ve seen plenty of cinematic stories about singers following their dreams, but The High Note focuses more behind the scenes.

However, as it charts a predictable arc about the upstart career of an aspiring music producer, this drama from director Nisha Ganatra (Late Night) creates some melodic moments but never finds a consistent rhythm.

After growing up around the music business, Maggie (Dakota Johnson) has higher ambitions than her job as a personal assistant for iconic soul singer Grace (Tracee Ellis Ross) whose career is past its peak. She hints at her goals to her pampered boss while running errands and dealing with Grace’s cutthroat manager (Ice Cube).

Maggie senses an opportunity when she meets a talented young singer (Kelvin Harrison Jr.) who needs a career boost. As their relationship deepens, Maggie tries to keep her moonlight gig from interfering with her day job before eventually overstepping her bounds. As a result, both Maggie and Grace or forced to reassess their priorities and their future.

The High Note provides modest insight into the lifestyle of a diva and her entourage, but doesn’t take that insider knowledge in a meaningful new direction.

Rookie screenwriter Flora Greeson probes the realities of the contemporary music business, in this case showing Grace long after she’s become a superstar, when selling out to corporate and celebrity obligations often trump talent and creativity. Meanwhile, the depiction of Maggie’s driven idealism tends to water down the details of her journey, which compromises the film’s authenticity and emotional impact.

Perhaps it’s intended as more of a fantasy, which is fine. But given the two female leads, Ganatra misses an opportunity to explore topics such as the obstacles facing female producers in a male-dominated industry, or the trajectory of middle-aged performers in a world of tabloid superficiality and constant public scrutiny.

There are some highlights along the way. Ice Cube is an inspired bit of casting, and a sequence in which Maggie tries to calm her nervous protégé in the recording studio is charming.

Such pleasures are intermittent in a project that lacks sufficient subtlety and surprise before wrapping everything up too neatly in the end. Maybe you’ll have more fun gossiping about who might have inspired it.

Rated PG-13, 113 minutes.