This is a curious mix of The Blind Side, High Fidelity and A Christmas Carol.

A bracingly cynical set-up is slightly betrayed by a treacly ending, but redeemed by the cast, especially the watchable Seyfried and MacLaine, who has the same glint in her eyes that she had in 1960 in The Apartment.

With its off-the-mark proclamations about the Kinks and hi-fi nerd jargon, this feels like a screenplay written by someone who once read about music on Wikipedia but prefers not to listen to it.

What we have is a film built around a character arc that we never really see play out, and while it is intermittently funny, it rings hollow as a weekly sitcom.