Dreamin' Wild
Dreamin' Wild
The true story of the Emerson family and the tumult that followed the success of their self-recorded pop-funk album of the same name, which went largely unnoticed until critics rediscovered and reappraised it decades later. Now, as an adult, Donnie is forced to confront the ghosts from the past and grapple with the emotional toll his dreams have taken on the family who supported him.
Kevin Ward reviewedJuly 2, 2025
There’s a really interesting true story here about a deferred dream come true. Donny Emerson and his brother Joe cut an album when they were teenagers and now some 30 years later, the album has been discovered by a label and has been gaining traction in the public. Casey Affleck and Walton Goggins play the adult brothers Donny and Joe, respectively. While Donny and his wife Zooey Deschanel have continued working in music, playing shows, writing music and struggling to make it in the biz, Joe has long ago put down his drumsticks to work in timber, but the sudden attention on their adolescent creation, breathes life back into a old dream. Young Donny and Joe are played back Noah Jupe and Jack Dylan Grazer and the narrative flashes back and forth between time periods as we witness the birth of their album.
This is exactly the kind of movie I was expecting to love. I love Musical Movies and this has a really compelling story. However, the drama fell a little bit flat for me as there isn’t much conflict in the narrative and there’s not much of a journey being taken here. The story center’s on Affleck’s Donny, but he’s not really an active participant in the story. I felt like everything just kind of happens around him, and he’s kind of sad about it. The biggest hurdle and most emotional moments come from the conflict that arises from the fact that Joe hasn’t played in years, and this opportunity is super cool thing to experience and have fun with. But Donny has been grinding for years in music, is a disciplined professional and carries a lot of guilt for having not succeeded in the career for which his family and had sacrificed so much. The conflict doesn’t really escalate above one heated conversation in a rehearsal. I felt like the emotion could have been ramped up even further.
Lastly, while I think Affleck was good in the role, I think it would have worked better to cast an actor to actually sing the music. I know part of that was wanting to have Donny’s actual vocals used, but the vocals to me didn’t feel like a match to Casey at all. So those moments kind of take me out of the movie. Plus you’ve got Zoey Deschanel (underutilized btw) and it just felt like a missed opportunity to cast an actor with some musical chops to include real musical performances. It’s always my preference to have the actors performing the songs.
Donny and Joe Emerson’s song and performance at the very end was an excellent finale though. It’s a really beautiful song and wonderfully connects the film to the inspiring true story.