A great film all around.

Rating: 8/10 (28 March 2006)

I really love this film. I never was a fan of Johnny Cash until recently and now I really like him thanks to this film. Joaquin Phoenix is great as Cash and he deserved every award he got. Reese Witherspoon deserved hers, but I think Phoenix had the more rigorous role. Would you rather play a sweet, innocent Christian gospel singer or a depressed, drunk, drug-dependent singer who had marital and family problems? See? I give all the credit in the world to Phoenix for playing the role perfectly. Of course, Phoenix and Witherspoon can both sing very well and I find it amazing that they did it themselves and Phoenix taught himself to play the guitar. The directing was good, but I think Mangold missed some important stuff when he failed to mention that Johnny Cash was truly saved by God. June had a hand in it for sure, but only God could save anybody from the mess Johnny was in. Still, a great film all they way around.