Just freakin' awful

Rating: 2/10 (25 June 2006)

I am dumbfounded as to how this movie got so many rave reviews from people on this board; I can only suppose it has been swamped by studio supporters, since I see only toward the last pages are the real opinions coming out.
This is about the worst biopic I've ever seen. Phoenix wasn't that bad, but he reminded me of Johnny Cash not at all. Not his looks, not his voice, not his mannerisms, just nothing. I can't say too much about Witherspoon, as I never saw June to make a comparison.
So, the live performances, to which we were treated aplenty, were largely meaningless and, I'm sorry to say, there wasn't much in between them to take our minds off this fact. The story, such as it was, was full of threads that never went anywhere and it otherwise left us alternately either hanging or belaboured by the obvious. The editor must have been on the same pills Johnny was taking, because it made me feel nervous and irritable.
This gives me cause to question the value of IMDb reviews as a whole, since I couldn't have previously imagined so many people being so totally wrong. I have many times relied on IMDb to get some idea about a film before I went to the trouble to actually see it. I prefer to believe my theory of the board being flooded by friends of the studio. In this case, I saw the movie first, before the reviews, else I would be in a proper state right now, out for blood.
If I have to have an opinion, I would say this film is an insult to Johnny Cash and all his fans. That's all there is to it. If you haven't seen it yet, then take my advice and don't bother. 2 out of 10.
freddyzdead at gmail dot com