Typically Hollywood, but pretty good

Rating: 8/10 (5 October 2004)

Good flick. Interesting story. Good adaption to screenplay.
Somewhat predictable but not overly so. Played on lots of ridiculous stereotypes of southerners. On the upside, it least made an attempt to show good and bad characters on both sides, though this isn't exactly the same thing as accuracy. Southern accents were woefully off, particularly Kidman's.
I rented this movie not fully expecting to like it. Hollywood flicks that try to capitalize on historically events usually suck in lots of ways.
They often play on historical stereotypes. Second, they frequently insert fictional love interests and other stock story lines into the lives of historical figures. This was fictional to begin with, and not being a Civil War history buff, I'm not aware of any distortions. This film's plays on stereotypes weren't among the worst that I've seen.