Review of Honeysuckle Rose (1980) by Timothy S — 11 Feb 2014

Like a good country song, "Honeysuckle Rose" rolls out all the familiar cliches making for a predictable yet comfortable film that nevertheless doesn't offer up a single surprise along the way. It deals with drinking, music and infidelity and features the acting debut of country superstar Willie Nelson.

He gives a laid-back, likable and natural performance, mostly because he's playing a thinly veiled variation on himself, so it's kind of a stretch to call what he does here "acting". The film features some of the best music he's recorded as a singer, and the songs are easily the best thing about this easy-going picture. In fact, there are times during this movie's second half where the paper-thin plot almost gets in the way of the enjoyable concert footage.

The story is just a vehicle to drive the picture to the next musical number, and all of the conflicts along the way are wrapped up in a tidy, convenient manner in the end. Nelson's co-star Dyan Cannon has some good moments here as his long-suffering wife, but young Amy Irving is terribly miscast as his love interest. She was seemingly cast solely on the basis of her looks. She has a nice singing voice but her performance consists mostly of staring at Willie adoringly in a manner that he mostly ignores until the end when she's completely forgotten about in favor of a happy ending.

The music is the best (and some would argue, the only) reason to see "Honeysuckle Rose", a routine but slightly entertaining country song come to life. It's Willie's show all the way.