Janie Jones

A temperamental musician meets his 13-year-old daughter for the first time in director David M. Rosenthal's Janie Jones. While on tour with his band in Little Rock, Ethan (Alessandro Nivola) reconnects with former fling Mary Ann (Elisabeth Shue), whom he doesn't remember. When Mary Ann splits to enter rehab, their child, Janie (Abigail Breslin), winds up in Ethan's care. Aside from the fact that Mary Ann named him on the birth certificate, Ethan doesn't want to abandon Janie, so he takes her along on the road. Since the girl is an aspiring musician, she practices her songs while Ethan does sound checks; but after he makes a disastrous display of himself on stage one night, the troupe loses both lead guitarist Billy (Rodney Eastman) and keyboard player Iris (Brittany Snow). That leaves bass player Dave (Joel David Moore), drummer Chuck (Frank Whaley), and faithful, if exasperated, manager Sloan (Peter Stormare). Soon Ethan is playing solo gigs, a move that doesn't click with audiences until he adds Janie to the act, allowing the pair to bond both musically and emotionally. If the happy ending seems too predictable, Nivola and Breslin nevertheless work well together and sing decently enough (Gemma Hayes and Clem Snide's Eef Barzelay wrote their songs). A strong optional purchase. (K. Fennessy)