You Instead

Spotlight Premieres
D: David Mackenzie; with Luke Treadaway, Natalia Tena

American electro-pop singer Adam (Treadaway) and grungy riot grrrl Morello (Tena, who plays Tonks in the Harry Potter films) meet cute when, during a parking-lot spat at Scotland’s T in the Park music festival, a mysterious man handcuffs them together for an object lesson in peace. Hijinks ensue. Part totally predictable, goofy romantic comedy, part concert film (the movie was filmed over the four-day festival in 2010), You Instead is a pleasant enough bit of froth laced with the vicarious thrill of witnessing a mud-caked bacchanal of twentysomethings. There’s a bit of uncanny valley going on in that the suitably sexy Treadaway is unconvincing as an American (the dentistry and Eurotrash couture are dead giveaways); the key is to take the movie on its terms as a sensual romp (seriously, who needs Viagra with this montage of hookups?) and a great soundtrack. It’s the cotton-candy chaser to the more sober Film Festival fare.

Friday, March 18, 6pm, Alamo Ritz 1

This article appears in March 18 • 2011.

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