I found the film to be poignant, humorous, and the performances were excellent. The performance by Amy Adams? as "Ashley" was Academy Award work, absolutely amazing. I found the pacing excessively languorous and some of the scenes irrelevant to the story (which is not overly substantial to start with.) One problem is that we see powerful emotional undercurrents which deeply affect George's family but remain a mystery to the audience, which left me feeling dissatisfied. And George himself is so taciturn, so enigmatic, as to be a non-character. Indeed, it is a puzzle as to what Madeline sees in him, except lust, since we see almost nothing. The observations on the family and Southern culture were sometimes acute but also at times mean-spirited, in my view; most of the characters were presented as narrow, uneducated, or simple, and the family's limitless capacity to avoid the wrenching problems staring them in the face was not believable. In the end we understand that, yes, they love each other, but why in God's name doesn't anybody have a heart-to-heart talk with Johnny? This film does have charm, humor, and great acting, but the storyline is weak, too many questions are left unanswered, and some of the characters are one-dimensional.
