For most people in the movie industry, getting an Oscar nomination is a rare honor. For the songwriter Diane Warren, it’s like going outside to pick up the mail.
Over the past four decades, Warren has racked up 15 Academy Award nominations for best original song, a Grammy Award and many radio hits. You’ve probably heard, say, “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now” (co-written with Albert Hammond, recorded by the band Starship, featured in the 1987 movie “Mannequin”), Toni Braxton’s 1996 hit “Un-Break My Heart” or Cher’s 1989 hit “If I Could Turn Back Time.”
How does Warren do it? (And she is indeed still doing it — her last nomination was in 2023, for the Becky G song “The Fire Inside,” featured in the snack food comedy “Flamin’ Hot.”)
More than once in this up-close-and-personal documentary Warren refuses to share her process. Yet “Relentless,” directed by Bess Kargman, gives us some idea, like when Warren says that she put a dramatic half-step change in one of her songs because her lack of formal training meant she didn’t know it was a music theory no-no. The famous talking heads here, Cher among them, affectionately and amusingly chronicle what a royal pain to work with Warren can be. More poignant is the revelation that, despite being the writer of dozens of anthemic love songs, Warren has no great amour of her own.
Warren also had a painful upbringing with a distant mother. But one of the movie’s most heartwarming anecdotes involves her father bringing her to a songwriting competition. Even if you don’t care for Warren’s tunes, this movie is likely to make you a fan.
Diane Warren: Relentless
Not rated. Running time: 1 hour 31 minutes. In theaters.
