Review: Bono's daughter Eve Hewson hits all the right notes in 'Flora and Son'

John Carney reinvented the movie musical with "Once," "Sing Street" and "Begin Again," celebrating the healing power of catchy tunes. His latest sticks to the same formula. In "Flora and Son," streaming Friday on Apple Plus TV, Flora (Eve Hewson) struggles with her temper and a difficult teen, Max (Orén Kinlan). The only thing the two seem to have in common is a gift for creative cursing.

Then mom finds a discarded guitar in the trash and Max learns how to create hip-hop on the computer. What follows is a series of collaborations that will put a big smile on your face.

Hewson's ability to harmonize is no surprise; she's the daughter of U2 frontman Bono. But she's also a spunky actor, particularly memorable when she's flirting with an online music teacher (Joseph Gordon-Levitt, looking like a post-grunge Eddie Vedder). She deserves to be considered for an Oscar nomination.

It's more likely that she'll get awards for helping to write some of the movie's great original tunes, which hold up nicely alongside snippets from the catalogs of Tom Waits, Joni Mitchell and Hoagy Carmichael.

Snobs will slam Carney for making films that simply patch together silly love songs. But what's wrong with that?

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