Because you're not quite mine, I walk (and walk and walk and walk) the line

Rating: 6/10 (19 November 2005)

There's no question that Phoenix does a superb job inhabiting the skin and soul of Cash, he's brilliant in every possible way (particularly in how he literally turns his eyes into Cash's eyes), and Reese Witherspoon is a more-than-decent June Carter as well. These two performances, unfortunately, are the only really good things about the film, which plays out more like a (two-part!) TV biopic rather than a motion picture.
It starts out promising, with Cash being relentlessly drawn to music, but once he gets his foot in the proverbial door and meets June Carter, the movie deteriorates into yer basic lovesick puppy scenario, with Cash continually debasing himself because his fierce and undying love for June is unrequited.
More specifically, he wants her to marry him, see, and by the end of the movie, after she finally agrees, onstage (in a sinfully heavy-handed scene that the two actors barely manage to pull off), it's clear that the film has nowhere else to go, and so it ends, somewhat unsatisfactorily.
I would have preferred just a tad more depth here, I think both Carter and Cash (who remained together for THIRTY FIVE years after the conclusion of the movie!!) deserved it. I think it's a shame when two actors who were obviously so up to the challenge weren't given anything truly outstanding to work with, but they still deserve acknowledgment come Oscar-nomination time, regardless.