Who would have thought Meryl Streep would be in a Wes Craven movie? But does she wield a knife and try to cut up all the other characters? Is she one of the helpless victims of a serial killer? No, she wields a violin and she plays a true-life teacher by the name of Roberta Guaspari who teaches a bunch of inner city kids how to play. Yes, this is a Wes Craven movie, but it is a drama (!!).

The good side: The movie is well acted and has enough comedy to keep it enjoyable. It is fairly entertaining to watch and has a good deal of violin stuff.

The bad side: I swear I have seen this same Meryl Streep character in a few of her other movies. It goes on a little too long.

Half way through the movie, Roberta succeeds in teaching the kids how to play. Things seem over. And then it jumps ahead ten years and shows the rest of the movie, even though it seems like it should have just ended. Nevertheless, this is a true story, and I guess all the important stuff has to be told (the middle nine years aren't consequential, I guess).

I was surprised by this movie. I heard some pretty bad reviews when it came out, and I was not planning on renting it. In fact, the only reason I saw this movie was that it was playing on the airplane to Hawaii. I watched it and found it rather entertaining. It is a rather overused plot, however, as seen in Dangerous Minds and a dozen others, but still is worthwhile.

Music of the Heart is a decent film. I do not think Meryl Streep deserves an Oscar nomination for this film, but at the same time, her acting, and the film overall, is not bad.

Review by Erik Samdahl unless otherwise indicated.