Review of Come Early Morning (2006) by Wes L — 24 Mar 2007

[size=2]You may recognize the actress name Joey Lauren Adams in association with Kevin Smith movies; most notably [i]CHASING AMY[/i]. However, now she has put her name out into the entertainment search engines as a director with [i]COME EARLY MORNING[/i].

[i]COME EARLY MORNING [/i]is the story of a 30-something woman growing weary of waking each morning with a new man from the local bar. She meets a man interested in dating her and decides to give love a small chance. The lead role is played by Ashley Judd with supporting roles by a few notable names; Laura Prepon, Diane Ladd, and Jeffrey Donovan.

Major critics have applauded Adam?s directorial debut and the performance of Ashley Judd. I will clap, quietly and then move on.

The film itself is a beautiful portrayal of the Southern/Midwest. The film is set in Arkansas, and accurately captures the environment. Coming from Missouri and Arkansas at times myself I could relate with the surroundings and recognize the actions of the characters.

Ashley Judd has never been a favorite actress of mine, however, second to the rich environment portrayed is her acting skills. She does an excellent job with the role and everyone else in the cast follows suit. I did feel like there were more characters than needed to push the story along (lots of ?bit parts?), but then again that is how life is sometimes too.

The acting and the scenery are all good, but now we investigate the meat of things: the story. Considering the plot, if you cannot relate to the characters and environment then you will possibly find this movie to be decent background music for taking a nap. (Unless country music offends you) The basic structure of things is: Girl sleeps around scared of relationships, girl meets boy, boy and girl get along and start relationship, girl gets scared and loses boy, girl changes her ways and wants boy back, and then a less than happy ending. One could applaud the subtle reality of the ending situation, however it is a sort of disappointing conclusion when the film lacks much excitement anywhere.

This is a decent film for a first time director and looks good on Ashley Judd?s acting resume, but I wouldn?t actually recommend renting it because it doesn?t have mass appeal. More of an art-house sort of flick with some southern style. [i]COME EARLY MORNING [/i]will come and go as forgettable. If you want good acting you can find many other films and if you want rich environment you can visit real life. What is really needed is a formula with those aspects and a good story.

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