Review: 'Dreamin' Wild' shows the strength of family bonds and the pitfalls of a musical dream

The biographical family drama “Dreamin’ Wild” is a moving true story of a musician who took a chance on his dreams — and waited 30 years for it to finally pay off.

In 1979, 15-year-old Donnie Emerson and his 17-year-old brother, Joe, recorded an album in the studio their dad built them on their farm in Fruitland, Washington, about 50 miles northwest of Spokane. The album never went anywhere, and years later boxes of vinyl LPs sat in the basement of the farm house. 

In 2011, where the story picks up, Joe (Walton Goggins) built a house on the farm, near their parents, Don Sr. and Salina (Beau Bridges and Barbara Deering). Donnie (Casey Affleck) moved to Spokane and runs a less-than-successful recording studio with his wife, Nancy (Zooey Deschanel), with whom he’s raising two children and performing cover songs at weddings.

Then Donnie gets a weird phone call, from Matt Sullivan (Chris Messina), who runs a boutique record label that specializes in undiscovered gems. A few copies of the Emerson brothers’ album, “Dreamin’ Wild,” have become a find for vinyl collectors — and Sullivan thinks the album could be a hit, more than 30 years after the brothers recorded it.

Sullivan promises the brothers that they won’t lose any money — and may, he says, make them some money. He also tells Donnie and Joe that he thinks the brothers can go on tour, starting with a record label party in Seattle.

The prospect of performing again is exciting to Joe, but less so for Donnie — who worries that they won’t be good enough, and that the hopeful, romantic songs he wrote as a teen don’t hold up when sung by a guy in his 40s who’s been beaten down by life. The tension between the brothers brings up memories of their childhood (seen in flashbacks, with Noah Jupe as the young Donnie and Jack David Grazer as the young Joe), and the sacrifices their dad made to let the boys pursue their musical dream.

Writer-director Bill Pohlad — who made the thoughtful 2014 biopic “Love & Mercy,” with Paul Dano and John Cusack playing Brian Wilson at different ages — doesn’t go for easy sentimentality or a Cinderella story ending. Musical success is far less important here than the relationship between the brothers, and how the years have darkened their outlook but hasn’t frayed their family bond.

Goggins and Bridges give soulful performances, capturing the love Joe and Don Sr. have for Donnie and the faith they have in his talent. In the central role, Affleck conveys Donnie’s ambivalence toward his musical gifts, which he has learned are as much a source of heartbreak as of joy. 

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‘Dreamin’ Wild’

★★★1/2

Opens Friday, August 4, in theaters. Rated PG for language and thematic elements. Running time: 110 minutes.