Madeleine (Embeth Davidtz), an art dealer in Chicago journeys to North Carolina to visit a reclusive artist with her husband George, and meets her new in-laws for the first time in this slow-moving, disappointing melodrama.
See, George is from a wacky, somewhat boisterous family, whereas Madeleine is more reserved; friendly, perhaps, but she doesn’t wear her emotions on her sleeve, as George’s family (his mom, dad, brother, and sister-in-law) do. Yes, it’s a culture-clash movie, a fish-out-of-water dollop of treacle and mush. Only not well done.
George and Madeleine have been married just a few months, but no one in George’s close-knit family has met her. It’s obvious from the git-go that they’re from different worlds, when Madeleine does that European kissy kissy on both cheeks thing. And she’s quickly introduced to the clan – mother Peg, dowdy and domineering; father Eugene, taciturn and methodical; brother Johnny, angry and ignorant; and sister-in-law Ashley, pregnant, optimistic, and unburdened by brains.
There’s not much of a narrative at work here; Ashley quickly senses she has someone new to talk to and adopts Madeleine for the short time they’ll be visiting. Exuberant and bouncy, Ashley chats idly with Madeleine but reveals to the rest of us that things aren’t all that good with her and Johnny, who’s struggling through the nuances of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn in a GED class. While interacting with Ashley and the rest of the family, Madeleine finds time to attend a church function with them, too. You know, the family that churches together…. or something.
Amy Adams, as Ashley, garnered an Oscar nod for her work here, but to me it wasn’t anything special. In fact, the entire movie is nothing special, because nothing happens. There’s no real plot development, and there’s certainly no character development. I kept waiting for something, a twist, an epiphany, maybe Ashley saying, “That’s it, Johnny, I’m leaving!” or something. Anything. None of these people had a pulse.
Which leads me to the one aspect I did like – Scott Wilson as Eugene, the dad. He has the fewest lines of the main characters, but he made every one of them count. Eugene is an amateur woodworker, and a man who’s content to just let things be what they are. He’s not the type to put his arm around someone; he just keeps on keepin’ on. Eugene, in other words, just is, while everyone else floats like butterflies and stings like bees.
There are some unexplored themes in the movie, which always aggravates me. For example, there might be a scene with two people, and maybe some blunt hints are dropped as to What’s Really Going On, and you think, “Hm, I bet they resolve this somehow!” but they don’t. They never do. This should have been known Unresolved Mysteries.
Junebug: **
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