Phonearl Good start, but then it gets ruined

FuzzyTagz If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

Michelle Ridley The movie is wonderful and true, an act of love in all its contradictions and complexity

Sarita Rafferty There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

keren_boy_ii As a musical movie, I believe that the overall story is very good. It could inspire youngsters to learn about music, not just jazz but any kind of music. In fact I feel an encouragement for the viewer to at least appreciate a bit more music that they don't like or are not familiar with.There are only few main cast which is nice. That way the viewer won't get confused over who's who. Oh, and I find certain cast to be quite cute (that's a personal taste though) which makes the movie more interesting. Unfortunately I believe that they could spend less time in explaining how did the lunches got delivered to the stadium. Like for example they could erase the scene where the girls are seen panicking after missing their train station and the scene in the river. Instead use that time to focus more on showing the process of learning to play the instrument. They only show very little parts of that. All of a sudden the girls and the math teacher, who is apparently still learning himself, were able to play the music right. It's like yesterday they were nobody but the the next day they already become pro.Otherwise I see this as a great movie. I believe this movie also inspires the Chinese movie titled Our Shining Days (2017) since it bears a similar plot.

ebossert A group of flunkee schoolgirls take up jazz in this hilarious movie by Shinobu Yaguchi. If you're unfamiliar with Yaguchi, he's a very reliable director and I would place him on a pedestal as one of the best – if not the best – contemporary directors of comedy films. One reason I feel this way is that he usually chooses a different topic for each film and explores the topic to point of being informative for the viewer. For example, his film Wood Job (2014) focused on forestry, his film Robo-G (2012) focused on robotics, and his film Happy Flight (2008) focused on air traffic control. So the viewer usually leaves his film with a slightly greater knowledge of the topic at hand. Swing Girls focuses on how teenagers learn to play instruments – a topic that is certainly more familiar to the typical moviegoer than something like forestry, but the informational value of the film is still there.The second reason I love Yaguchi as a director is that his humor is more of the everyday variety, which is very funny and very charming. Unlike some other directors of comedy, Yaguchi's films never even come close to being annoying or grating on the nerves – which is a huge positive, in my opinion. There are no gross-out jokes or juvenile dialogue to sit thru. I mean, there's nothing worse than being irritated by a comedy, and you have nothing to worry about here.Lots of hijinks occur in Swing Girls, which include disastrous lunch trips, money-making schemes to buy new instruments, and musical debacles. The set-up of how these girls become involved with music is very entertaining. The laughs just keep coming while incorporated within a distinctive cinematic approach that avoids over-the-top silliness in favor of quaint, well-timed events. One of the more memorable comedic set pieces occurs mid-way thru (in a forest) and is very creative in its style of camera-work. The pacing is fast, the characters are lovable, and the finale has some very catchy tunes. Yes, you have some legitimately good music to look forward to here. The opening half focuses on a few songs that the protagonists consistently fail to learn properly, but once they progress in their skill set we are treated to some great stuff during the finale.The lead actress here is Juri Ueno, who is very popular in Japan because of her screen presence and charisma. Most of her films have not made the jump to American shores, but Swing Girls is an excellent introduction to this actress. One of the teachers is played by Naoto Takenaka, who is one of those Japanese actors who is seemingly in every film (not unlike Ren Osugi) – IMDb credits Takenaka for 225 acting roles. He's great in this one, and it could be my favorite performance I've seen from him.Swing Girls is great fun and comes highly recommended.

yokorunrun The characters of Swing Girls are low motivated female high school students taking summer classes. They decide to start playing musical instruments and aim at taking part in a high school band competition. Their performance at the end of the movie is cheered wildly by the audience of actors and by us, the film viewers.The director of this film is Fumihareu Yaguchi, known most widely for his work on Water Boys, a film about a male high school synchronized swimming team. There are some points in common between these films: the characters are under-motivated teenagers; friendship plays an important role; and the characters learn to achieve a difficult goal.There are two good points and one weak point to Swing Girls. Overall the casting was excellent. The actresses succeed in portraying youth, seriousness, and pleasure and you can feel the strong tie of friendship between them. The music played in this film is traditional and familiar to many, such as Sing Sing Sing, which we often hear on TV in Japan. But one thing that seems to have been omitted are the scenes of the hard practice to the road to progress. The girls improve too suddenly.

Ms_Granger Swing Girls is the story of high school students who find something precious. Actress Jyuri Ueno gives a great performance as Tomoko Suzuki, a girl who never succeeds at anything she does because she cannot stick to it. Because of poor grades, she and some friends have to spend summer vacation taking special make-up lessons. One day they are responsible for delivering boxed lunches to the brass band, which is performing at a nearby baseball stadium. But because they are not paying attention and miss their train stop, they have to walk back to the stadium.The boxed lunches are exposed to the summer heat and go bad and all the members of the Brass Band get food poisoning. To make up for their mistake, Tomoko and her classmates begin practicing music. At first the play half-heartedly, but gradually, they gave themselves over to playing jazz, buying their own instruments and forming their own jazz band. Finally, they take part in the regional Brass Band Contest and are given a standing ovation. The film tells us that working hard at something can give us one of the great experiences in our lives.This comedy was written and directed by Shinobu Noguchi, who made his debut twelve years ago with Clinic And Bare Feet. Since 2001 he has been one of Japanese most talked-about directors, the result of his film Water Boys, a film that garnered two Japanese Academy Awards for best leading actor and best music. Swing Girls features a collection of fresh actresses, including Jyuri Ueno and Yuika Motokariya, both of whom began their acting careers in daily television dramas. Ueno reprises the humorous character she played in Teruteru Family, while Yuika Motokariya gives up the outgoing character seen in Fight to portray Swing Girls shy and retiring role.Note that Swing Girls is in many ways similar to Water Boys. Both movies are about high school students finding something at which they can succeed and feature actor Naoto Takenaka in great performances as a bumbling coach who leads his students to learn jazz (Swing Girls) and synchronized swimming (Water Boys). But while these movies are very similar, the recognition awarded them has been quite different. Swing Girls won seven Japanese Academy Awards, including best screenplay, while Water Boys won only two. In terms of originality, Water Boys is preferable to Swing Girls if for no other reason than for being first.If director Noguchi wants to make another comedy movie, he needs to make something more original next time.