By Nick Nitkowski

“Dandelion” is another one of those movies that I went into completely blind. Going into movies blind can be very beneficial. No expectations, no disappointment. But there have been some instances when going into a movie blind can backfire and you start to ask yourself if you should have watched a trailer first to see if it’s your cup of tea. But, I watch almost anything. Not due to any obligations, but because I genuinely enjoy watching movies. So how does this one fair?

“Dandelion” is about a struggling musician who goes out of her way to try to make something of herself by being a famous musician. While on that journey, she meets a guy who’s also a musician, and a romance blossoms between them. It’s a story when seen done a million times before in a million different ways. It’s all about the presentation that makes one stand out from the rest.

This one, unfortunately, does not stand out. In fact, this will be one that will most likely be forgotten as quickly as it came out. This is about as generic as it gets when it comes to this kind of film. I would go so far as to say that it’s nearly unwatchable. Not because of the acting, or the aesthetic, or the generic story, but what makes this film nearly unwatchable is because of how boring it is, and it gets boring fast. Aside from a couple of scattered dramatic moments in the film, everyone talks to each other so softly throughout the entire runtime of this movie. There’s no passion or excitement behind what’s being said ever.

Since this movie is about music and songwriting, the songs should be enough to break up the talking portions of the film and make things exciting, right? Unfortunately, the songs fell flat for me as well. I wasn’t connected to the songs in this film. The only good song in the whole movie is the one at the end where the movie closes  Easily the best song! Because there was passion and excitement and volume to it. That was the moment I remember feeling wide awake while I was watching it, but getting to that point was such a chore!

The acting was okay. Again, since every character spoke so softly throughout, there was really nothing to write home about in terms of performance. The lead actress who plays Dandelion, Kiki Lane, obviously had the most potential since she’s the title character and therefore carries this film. But again, the only takeaway from this film was her performance at the end, which for most would be considered way too late. Every other character was whatever to me.

Overall, “Dandelion” was below average at best and completely boring at worst. I was really fighting to stay awake watching this movie and by the time it was over, I immediately longed for my bed. With one good song, snail-like pacing, bandoring execution of a generic story with one particular segment that felt so random and out of nowhere with the way it was presented and edited, this is one tune that I can’t get into. Unlike a dandelion, it is not likely to blow you away. One can only hope that this boring Dandelion will be the last one of the season.

1.5 stars