So it's totally American shmultz - I don't mind a bit of that every now & then, even if it's intellectually uncool to say so! The fact that this is based on a true story means you can indulge the shmultz just that little bit more, should the mood strike. The kids are gorgeous and given a decent amount of screen time. Meryl wears such marginal outfits & has such an idiosyncratic speech pattern that I can only assume she spent at lot of time with the real Roberta Guaspari. She's quite convincing as the stroppy violin teacher & apparently spent weeks (!) training on violin in order to appear so.This is triumphalism movie-style & if you're in the mood to see one of those embarrassingly heart-warming stories where they give you exactly what you paid your $12.50 to see, it's not a bad watch.