The thing about Ron Howard is that he likes to take people by the hand too much, leading them all the way through the rollercoster instead of just put them on the rail so they can enjoy it by themselves. A family drama like this one, so much layered by problems and traumas of at least 3 generations could've been so much better if the director had chosen a less obvious path, which should have been a more honest one, and not driven entirely by drama formulas like Howard is so used to for so many decades. Screenplay by Vanessa Taylor doesn't help either. The overuse of flashbacks throughout the story to homeopathically reveal important matters for no other reason than tie audience thru its never ending 120 minutes is also what makes this movie never works as it could.
What does make this movie enjoyable is the acting and make up. Owen Asztalos is magnificent as young J.D. I'm a huge fan of both Amy Adams and Glenn Close's work, what a great partnership. Although Amy's character is so lost in the writing that feels like she was cast for it only because she's so talented that no bad writing can stop her from raising so low bars. Screenplay wastes most of its time trying to justify all the time every action and reaction of the characters instead of developing a coherent arc that could make us understand more clearly the reasons that made that family trully dissolve. Screenplay makes Bev takes most of the responsibility on her back, which obviosly is not. All the answers are thrown randomly and in the end feels like nothing makes much sense at all. Howard never puts audience into the emotional journey of reconnection efficiently, and all the efforts feels meaningless.
There's a moment when Mamaw is watching a 90s movie, drinking soda and eating mints. Every single brand is precisely turned to the cameras to make people understand that the story is set at that specific time, and entire direction and production is like that. So didactic that hurts.
When Owen is in the car, at the phone with Usha, which was one of the few most interesting moments I could find during entire movie, I couldn't stop thinking that the movie should have started from there, and entire story being revealed during this phone talk while he travels.
What does make this movie enjoyable is the acting and make up. Owen Asztalos is magnificent as young J.D. I'm a huge fan of both Amy Adams and Glenn Close's work, what a great partnership. Although Amy's character is so lost in the writing that feels like she was cast for it only because she's so talented that no bad writing can stop her from raising so low bars. Screenplay wastes most of its time trying to justify all the time every action and reaction of the characters instead of developing a coherent arc that could make us understand more clearly the reasons that made that family trully dissolve. Screenplay makes Bev takes most of the responsibility on her back, which obviosly is not. All the answers are thrown randomly and in the end feels like nothing makes much sense at all. Howard never puts audience into the emotional journey of reconnection efficiently, and all the efforts feels meaningless.
There's a moment when Mamaw is watching a 90s movie, drinking soda and eating mints. Every single brand is precisely turned to the cameras to make people understand that the story is set at that specific time, and entire direction and production is like that. So didactic that hurts.
When Owen is in the car, at the phone with Usha, which was one of the few most interesting moments I could find during entire movie, I couldn't stop thinking that the movie should have started from there, and entire story being revealed during this phone talk while he travels.