Come Early Morning DVD Review: An average story about an average woman.
March 22nd, 2007 in Drama, Dvd, Indie, Movies, Reviews
If a man frequents a bar and in turn frequently takes a lady home, he’s a ladie’s man or a player. If a woman frequents a bar and in turn frequently leaves with a stranger, she’s a whore or she has self-esteem problems. If you were to Google the phrase ‘double-standard’, you would probably come up with something similar to what I just said. It may not be fair, but movies are made from it.
Joey Lauren Adams of Chasing Amy fame makes her writing and directorial debut with Come Early Morning, a film about a country woman with some real daddy issues. Ashley Judd stars as Lucy Fowler, a simple country girl who finds nightly comfort in the arms of strange men. Known simply as ‘Luce’ (pronounced ironically as ‘loose’) by her friends, she seems like your everyday country girl. She holds a good job, she shares a house with her best friend, and she enjoys driving in her pickup truck listening to old country music. However, every night she finds herself at the local watering hole with a number of empty Coors Light Bottles and shot glasses in front of her, looking for the next guy to make her fell more like a woman. She’s never had a meaningful relationship, hell, she hasn’t even kissed a man while sober in years. Lucy would never know what to do with a man without a little alcohol in her system and her jeans around her ankles. That is until a stranger named Cal dragged her out of the bar from a fight with another woman one night. The more Cal gets to know Lucy, the more Lucy gets to know herself and her family, and it scares her.
Come Early Morning is one of those films that tell a story without actually telling it. The movie seems like it drops in on an unimportant time in Lucy’s life and we’re subjected to witness it and everything that happens. Sure, she may be at a turning point in her life and she may be learning more about herself and her relationship with her family, but then again, she may not. Don’t get me wrong; this movie is definitely well written and beautifully done. It was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance and it’s won some lesser-known awards, which is a triumph for a first-time writer/director. I just don’t see anything special about the story or the characters. It’s almost like you can randomly pick any single woman in their thirties and get a story fairly close to Lucy’s. Not to generalize others’ life or compare the life of anyone reading this to Lucy’s, but I bet many of you would relate. If I wanted to hear that story for two hours, I would have tuned into the Oxygen Network or Lifetime. You can write that off as a typical guy response if you want.
I was especially disappointed with the performance of That 70’s Show’s Laura Prepon. Not that it was particularly bad or anything, but it’s not the role to take if she wants to shed her image of the ‘stoner girlfriend’ that she’s had for eight years. She’s had some other roles in recent years that were different than what she’s known for (she was a serial killer in the film Karla), but none of them were as widely seen as Come Early Morning. Maybe she’s just not getting the scripts she needs to further her career. I dunno.Regardless of how I feel about the story, I look forward to Joey Lauren Adams’ next turn at writing/directing. I just hope it’s slightly more interesting. If I wanted something to fall asleep to, I’d watch JFK again.
Popularity: 1% [?]
Stumble it! / Bookmark:
