great movie--bad Southern accents

Rating: 9/10 (19 February 2005)

This is a terrific movie; rich characters, rich story and almost identical to the book. However, the Southern accents in this movie are the worst I've ever heard and that genuinely takes away from the movie an amazing amount. The accents are absolutely obscene, which is too bad. American actors not from the South almost always get them wrong and British actors do so much better at the Southern accent. Maybe some linguist can explain this phenomenon. The attempts in this movie are pitiful, especially the laughable attempt by David Morse, who I usually think is great. The dialogue coach for Southern accents needs to be fired and quickly.