Run, Don't Walk, to See "Walk the Line"

Rating: 8/10 (17 December 2005)

"WALK THE LINE"(2005) Johnny Cash personally picked Joaquin Phoenix to play his character for this movie as did June Carter Cash when she selected Reese Witherspoon to play her character before they both passed away about two years ago. Their choices were both wise decisions as neither Phoenix nor Witherspoon disappoint in this film. Quite to the contrary, their performances are so perfectly nuanced that they both look and sound just like the real singers.
There is a lot of great singing in this film along with a rather sweet tale about bad boy Cash finally getting June Carter to become his wife. Cash was tormented for years by the demons of booze and pills besides being married to another woman during the time he fell in love with June. Carter wasn't in much better shape with two failed marriages behind her and Cash offering little hope for marital stability. Their on again, off again relationship in both their singing and in their work before their eventual marriage forms the foundation for this film.
I will gladly admit to the astounding verisimilitude of their acting and their singing. Phoenix and Witherspoon become Cash and Carter. Their singing, while not quite up to the caliber of the originals, certainly passes muster. If you close your eyes and don't think about it too much, you would easily believe that you are listening to the real Johnny Cash and the real June Carter.
Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon clicked with me both as actors and performers. This is a very well done movie.
Grade: A-, Recommended? Yes
Movie rating: PG-13 for some language, thematic material, and depictions of drug dependency Movie run time: 136 minutes
Carl Zapffe, The Cat's Meow Movie Critic
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