In terms of viewing experience, "The Little Assistant of The Queen of Heaven" is indeed a very comfortable movie.
Like director Nissa Garnert's previous film, Late Night Show, "Little Assistant of the Queen of Heaven" is also the story of two women: a superstar who has a successful career but is no longer young and tired, and the other is an idealistic little assistant who chases his dreams.
The former is the fictional R&B diva Grace Davis (Tracy Ellis Rose), who has won several Grammy Awards, but she hasn't released a new record in a decade, and now tours mainly in different cities, singing the classics of her early years. She's considering accepting the arrangement of her savvy agent (Ace Cooper), who has been working with her for more than 20 years, to sing in Las Vegas.
The latter is Grace's personal assistant, McGee (Dakota Johnson), a veteran fan of Grace who enjoys working for an idol. McGee, who also aspires to be a music producer, has been secretly revising the mix for Grace's upcoming live album. She knows that Grace has been writing new songs and thinks her idol is not obsolete, and she has better options than to sing.
"The Little Assistant of the Queen of Heaven" is both the story of McGee's pursuit of her dreams and the story of Grace's pursuit of her dreams, and both are full of insecurity. On the one hand, McGee is eager to start her career as a producer with David (Kevin Harrison Jr.), a young soul singer she meets at a grocery store; Grace, on the other hand, as a middle-aged African-American female singer, is struggling to overcome her fears ("In the history of music, only 5 women over the age of 40 have title songs, and only one of them is black," she once said).
The two storylines complement each other and complement each other, showing the difficult choices the two face at different stages of their respective musical careers. It can even be said that David is the same, he was initially reluctant to step into the studio, and was coaxed by McGee to finally show his talent, but screenwriter Flora Gleason eventually arranged a happy ending for David around McGee and Grace.
Chances are you don't mind the cliché of the ending at all, as both Dakota Johnson and Tracy Ellis Rose are brilliant. Johnson, who was bold and nudist in the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy, played the relaxed and focused McGee in the film, showing her best performance in the industry. She and Rose form the ideal screen partner, injecting a moving emotional force into the symbiotic relationship between the two characters.
While the changes in the relationship between McGee and Grace are more dramatic in the film, those who love romantic comedies will undoubtedly love the sweet scenes between Dakota Johnson and Kevin Harrison Jr. There is a clear chemistry between them, and the image of the two composing music together in the studio will resonate greatly with romance lovers. Supporting actors are also outstanding, including Joan Diane Raphael as Grace's mean butler, and Bill Pullman as McGee's hipster dad — whose love of music sparked McGee's interest from an early age.
So, while "The Little Assistant" may not be as ingenious as "Late Night Show", director Nissa Ganat skillfully balances multiple plot lines and gives the characters inner depth and detail, making the film always lighthearted and interesting and engaging. Although the final twist awkwardly adds some unnecessary soap opera drama, there's no denying that the whole process is enjoyable. At a time when the pandemic is endless, perhaps we need this kind of easy movie that can temporarily escape reality.