Tuner: Sadly off-key

Tuner (2025) • View trailerThree stars (out of five); rated R, for violence, dramatic intensity and considerable profanityAvailable via: Amazon Prime and other VOD optionsBy Derrick Bang • Published in The Davis Enterprise, 9.20.26Of all the ways a film can fail, the most disappointing is when script, execution and tone show great promise during the first two acts... ...and then everything goes to hell during the third act, leaving viewers unsatisfied, and with an expression of bewildered “what the heck?” Upon arrival at each client's home, Harry (Dustin Hoffman) does all the talking andglad-handing, while the genial and mostly silent Niki (Leo Woodall) focuses ontuning an often unloved piano.That’s sadly the case with this film, Academy Award-winning documentarian Daniel Roher’s first dramatic feature. The beguiling premise in Roher and Robert Ransey’s script is clever and fascinating; the primary characters are deftly sculpted and credibly portrayed by all cast members; and when…