I did an extensive search and couldn't find any discussion of this movie. I for one, didn't really like it, for a number of reasons. A) Instead of being about Johnny Cash, it was about Johnny Cash's drug habit and Love with June Carter. I can't stand it when they try to define people by one problem they had or one person they loved. His character was just kind of blah. B) While it was cool to see and hear a lot of the songs performed, I didn't really get a sense of what made Johnny make Johnny Cash music. Was it because some small producer told him to sing what he would if he had only one song? Why does he sing Fulsom County? I felt there was a lot they could of done there and what they did do was just flat. Maybe I'm being a Johnny Cash Scrooge, but I felt he deserved a better movie than that.
As a biopic of Johnny Cash, it sucked. As a love story, I thought it was quite good. It wasn't the story of Johnny Cash so much as it was the story of how a woman saved a man's life, and they both happened to be famous entertainers. The music was just a nice backdrop to the story. I've never been a big fan of Reese Witherspoon but I thought she did a really nice job in a well-written part. I agree that we didn't really get a great glimpse of what made Johnny Cash such an enduring musician, but I kind of understand why. Nearly all of the movie focused on him during his drug years, and drug addicts really are pretty one-dimensional people.
I agree that Witherspoon was good, and I liked her character a lot more. I just didn't see why she liked Johnny. They didn't give me a reason to like him outside of the fact that he was Johnny Cash.
Yes, the filmmakers did bank quite a bit on the fact that the audience was already pretty familiar with Cash himself, therefor assuming that everyone ALREADY liked him. It was pretty much a movie STARRING Johnny Cash moreso than a movie ABOUT him. In that context, I thought it was pretty good. I understand your criticism, though.
I saw the movie. I stayed awake, which is not the case for most movies I see. I couldnt get past the fact that the actors actually sang those songs though. Something about Joaqin Phoenix singing, strikes me as odd. And he's my favorite actor in Hollywood.
I thought this was a very good movie with superb acting. It didn't go over the entire career of JC like said above, but did a great job showing his problem with drug addiction and relationship with June Carter. By focusing on just this aspect of his life is what makes the movie work IMO. I watched JC's music video of "Hurt" after I saw the movie and got a little misty eyed. It hits you a little harder after you know the what he's been through.
