There are some movies that almost feel like they’re made just to play film festivals. Fun, conventional crowd pleasers with political undertones that can get them in at every single one. It seems like “The Sapphires” has played every festival there is, premiering at Cannes back in May 2012, and going to all the big festivals like Toronto or Telluride, and small ones like Portland or Mill Valley. After almost a year running the festival circuit it’s finally coming to theaters, and as conventional as it is there’s enough fun in it to make it worthwhile.

In 1968, a group of four girls are trying to get into the music world and escape their small Australian town. At a local talent show, out-of-work talent scout Dave (Chris O’Dowd, “Bridesmaids”) takes notice of them and tries to help them break out. The girls find out about a program to go perform for troops in Vietnam, and try to convince their parents to let them ship off.

It hits almost all the beats you would expect, and is undeniably manipulative with the ways it uses elements of race and war. However most of the cast, O’Dowd especially, inject a lot of life into the film making it a lot more fun than it should be. There’s some kind of uncomfortable relationship stuff towards the end of the film, and it could really benefit from being a bit shorter, even at only 103 minutes.

Still, it’s a clear crowd-pleaser, with a lot of great music and good, but not laugh-out-loud comedy. “The Sapphires” isn’t anything that special, but it’s certainly better than a lot of movies of this sort, especially other recent musicals (looking at you, “Rock of Ages” and “Les Miserables.”)

3.5/5 Stars