Junebug 2005

     George Johnsten is a successful Carolinian and he meets Chicago art gallery owner Madeleine at an electoral benefit art auction.  It is love at first sight!!,  Madeleine decides to meet a Southern original artist.  George seized the opportunity to come along and present her to his North Carolina parents Eugene and Peg.  Also in the family are drop-out brother Johny and his very pregnant wife Ashley.  It doesn’t take long for a can of worms to open up!!!  Emotions revive and emerge including admiration and jealousy!!!

     There is a meeting of opposites in this film because both director Angus McLachlan and Phil Morrison are both from North Carolina.  The heartland takes a journey into quiet, into the heart a small-town and family life.  This is a slice of the life in North Carolina with corn bread and red eye gravy.  

     This film is good to use to talk with mature teens about values, relationships and how we all come together at times.  When Amy Adams is onscreen, this film shines.  Her character is naive but very sweet.  You want to give her a hug after you see that her husband can be neglectful.  There are frequent laughs in the first half provided by Amy.  5* (I really liked this movie)

106 min, Comedy directed by Phil Morrison and written by Angus MacLachlan with Embeth Davidtz, Alessandro Nivola, David Kuhn, Alicia Van Couvering, Jerry Minor, Matt Besser, Will Oldham, Frank Hoyt Taylor, Scott Wilson, Ben McKenzie, Celia Weston, Amy Adams.

Imdb 6.9* out of 10* with 22,041 reviews, Rotten Tomatoes 86% with 136 critics 73% with 46,871 audience reviews, Metacritic 80 out of 100 with 34 critics 7.9 out of 1`0 with 100 ratings, Common Sense Media Cynthia Fuchs, 3* out of 5*, age 17+, 3* violence, 3* sex, 5* language, 3* drinking, drugs & smoking, Amazon 3.9* out of 5* with 255 reviews. 

Special Note:  Two real houses in Winston-Salem were used for filming, one for the internal shots and the other for external shots.  The two houses were down the street from each other.  The external shots house was also used for the basement and garage scenes.  This house also housed the make-up department.  There is a mistake with Eugene’s Phillips head screw driver.  Through half of the movie he uses only one screw driver.  A woodworker and handy man like Eugene would have owned several Phillips head screw drivers in several sizes?  In the hospital room, Ashley’s hair repeatedly moves from being behind/not behind her ear between shots?  A saucer under the water pitcher appears and disappears between shots in the hospital room?