Come Early Morning
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Movie Reviews of Come Early Morning
Movie Review: Ashley Judd, Welcome Back
Summary: 3 Stars
COME EARLY MORNING marks the writing and directing debut of Joey Lauren Adams who elects to share a bit of her birthplace atmosphere in Arkansas and while the story is sound and the writing evocative of the personal turmoil of little towns populated by good but bored people, there is nothing new here. But just the opportunity to see gifted actress Ashley Judd strut her stuff is reason enough to watch this little film and makes us wonder where has she been since her 2004 stint in 'De-Lovely'. She is just too fine an actress not to be given more beefy roles.
Lucy Fowler (Judd) lives in a little Arkansas town, a successful contractor with boss Owen Allen (Stacy Keach, another underused fine actor), but a woman without a firm attachment to her fragmented family: her shy and sequestered father (Scott Wilson) has returned to town where he hides in alcohol and steps out only for Holy Roller church services; her grandmothers Doll (Candyce Hinkle) is unstable and keeps to herself and Nana (Diane Ladd) remains in a mutually abusive marriage; and her uncle Tim (Tim Blake Nelson) who is the only stalwart member of the clan. Lucy lives with her friend Kim (Laura Prepon) who understands Lucy's shortcomings: unable to form relationships, Lucy spends her weekends getting drunk at the local tavern and sleeping with anonymous men whom she deserts a dawn.
But things change when Lucy encounters Cal Percell (Jeffrey Donovan) who provides her with the first semblance of normalcy in her relationships with men, a frightening new step she abuses by entering into her drinking mode again. Lucy begins to make changes in her view of her family, her fear of being the mirror image of her father, in her work, and in the way she views men. And the film just trails off leaving us wondering what life will now be like.
Adams has a fine handle on her subject and creates dialog that feels like it should: her election to make such a fine three-dimensional character out of Lucy's father who barely has a line to say is much to her credit (and the strong performance by Scott Wilson!). But in the end it is the pleasure of seeing Ashley Judd in a meaty role that makes the difference. Grady Harp, April 07
Movie Review: Nothing Special.
Summary: 3 Stars
"Come Early Morning" is a portrait of an emotionally bereft small-town Southern woman, written and directed by actress Joey Lauren Adams and starring Ashley Judd, both Southern women themselves. Lucy Fowler (Ashley Judd) is a construction contractor by day and at night hits the bars of her small Arkansas town to get drunk and pick up men -who disgust her by the time she wakes up with them the next morning. Uncomfortable in social situations without alcohol and likewise with men who don't treat her badly, Lucy craves the love of her distant and disinterested father. When a newcomer to town, Cal Percell (Jeffrey Donovan), is interested in a relationship, not just a one-night stand, Lucy is wary but gives it a try in her own self-defeating way.
Lucy's emotional journey just failed to capture my interest. This territory has been covered many times before. The promiscuous woman who uses sex as a substitute for fatherly love is a cliché -and probably a disingenuous one. Ashley Judd looks like she gained weight for the role, and Lucy rarely parts or brushes her hair. These attempts to "ugly her up" are conspicuous. Ashley Judd is an attractive woman, and any small-town thirty-something woman who looked like her would be aware of that. Women that age are desperate to preserve their looks, not vandalize them. There is no reason for this character to be plain when she obviously isn't. Ultimately, Lucy is a nice woman whose problems are not so momentous as she thinks, but I tired of her angst and histrionics before the film was over.
The DVD (Weinstein Company 2007): This is a two-sided disc with a widescreen version of the film on one side and full screen version on the other. There are no bonus features. Subtitles are available in English SDH and Spanish.
Movie Review: Lookin' for love in all the wrong places...
Summary: 3 Stars
Initially, I was drawn into this small movie and wanted to learn more about Lucy (Ashley Judd) and why she was so self-destructive. She is a strong-willed woman in her 30s who wants to be loved, but seeks out men who don't qualify as anything more than one-night-stands. Lucy works hard in the construction business by day and then transforms into a barfly at night. She does a lot of drinking (this movie is also part info-mercial for a certain light beer) and sleeping around with nameless guys she meets when she's drunk. There's also a side story about a sick dog she takes home that was written into the script for some unknown reason. Eventually, Lucy meets Cal, a nice guy who is in love with his car, and struggles to avoid getting too involved with him. She begins to feel something for Cal, until she senses he wants more than she is willing to give, and then she reverts back to drinking and promiscuity and turns him away. This was the part that didn't quite make this an enjoyable romantic movie for me. Lucy is a very attractive woman (even without makeup and uncombed hair) and has a "girl-next-door" innocence...until she becomes a foul-mouthed slut after drinking to excess. Flip-flop personality aside, I was somewhat drawn to her. I won't go into the other characters in the story who happen to be her dysfunctional family. They were generally unhappy and there was a connection between them and Lucy's dark side. It was inferred that she acted the way she did because of her father's drinking and womanizing past. I have to say that I was surprised this movie was praised so highly by many critics. I expected more and was left at the end of it with a feeling of "Is that all there is?"Movie Review: Hit the Snooze Button
Summary: 3 Stars
This is a nice looking and well acted movie, but it's awfully hard to recommend. Nothing much happens and it's difficult to care very much about any of the characters. Even though this is a role that is supposedly more suited to Judd's image, I simply found her to be too attractive to be believable as a barfly/slut. Laura Prepon was wasted as her roommate, as was Stacy Keach as her employer. Actually I found the whole thing to be a waste of time. A pretty and pleasant waste, but a waste all the same.
Movie Review: Not too bad
Summary: 3 Stars
I was REALLY interested in seeing a Jeffery Donovan movie. This definitely fits that bill. The movie is okay - not the best movie I've ever seen and not one I will watch over and over again. I don't regret the purchase because I wanted to see more of Mr Donovan's work, but I understand why this didn't really do well at the box office. It's not a BAD movie but I would have rather paid $8 rather than $15.