How could I get through this review without you? If I had to write without you, what kind of review would that be? It would probably be a review of the Awards bait from Diane warren that, despite its lack of an audio description track, or even a substantial release, is likely to earn Warren yet another Oscar nomination for Best Original Song. This early in the year, and this is the most sure fire Oscar contender I’ve seen, and despite being a documentary, it won’t be for best Documentary Feature.

This is a celebration of everything Diane, from her beginnings to where she is now. She has always had the fire to be a songwriter, and started at a young age, and just kept plugging away. She’s written notably for film, but also for some of the top artists of the past and present. These artists all show up to discuss that mind blowing moment, from Cher to Kesha, Diane pulls back the curtain on all her big hits, with some insight on how she came to write memorable ballads I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing and Because You Loved Me.

the documentary also touches on her love of animals, and how she gives a lot to shelters. Most of this is just a setup to remind Oscar voters just how good she is, as she casually mentions being on a top 10 list of the greatest songwriters of all time, ahead of Carole King. She wants to win a competitive Oscar, and she and her friends talk about how disheartening it is to keep losing that award. then, we finish by heavily featuring her newest addition to her songbook, Dear Me, which is headed for the Oscars for this year, as it is performed by Kesha. I think the song is fine, but Warren’s skills aren’t in question here. they never are. Often the winner of best Original song is having a bit of a moment, in terms of not just being a structurally sound piece of music in terms of lyrics and musical chord progressions that perhaps don’t match every pop song ever written, but tie themselves in someway to a movie that is memorable or a moment in that film. With pop songs, the Academy seems more resistant to some extremely obvious choices over the last few years, passing on hits like See you Again from Furious 7, for more awards friendly fare. Arguably, I Don’t Want To Miss A thing hit that bump, being a hit song from a popcorn movie that some critics roasted at the time. Sometimes, getting a nomination for “the song from Pearl Harbor” seems like an achievement in and of itself.

What Warren needs is what seems to get people to the stage more often than not. Bond songs, to which she’s lost a few times, and Disney musicals. While not every Disney musical has landed in this category as of late, most of the films missing are not written by people with the same level of experience as warren. has she ever thought about teaming up with someone for a Disney musical? Has she ever been approached to do a Bond song? Warren’s last couple of films nominated have only been nominated in Original Song, and aren’t really in contention for anything else. Do I think she’ll win for this? it would have to be a really weak year for original songs, in a year where Wicked is premiering new music.

As a blind critic, I would note that this was a lot of talking, and a lot of music being played. I did catch some transitions that left audio gaps frequently enough for me to believe an audio description track could be beneficial for this film. there are thousands of critics, and I’m the only one trying to mention anything about an attempt at creating an equitable experience for all audiences. that being said, this is pretty straightforward, and while you might miss detail as a blind or low vision user, I don’t want to insult your intelligence by calling this unwatchable and suggest no human could possibly follow its deep complexities.

Diane Warren wants an Oscar. the question is how much do you want to watch a film about that? And then, the possible added cherry on top is, are you so determined to not miss a thing, that you will watch without audio description, or is this a pass for you?

Fresh: Final Grade: 7.8/10