Best Actress?

Rating: 8/10 (4 April 2006)

OK...let me start by saying that I have almost no knowledge of Johnny Cash, and never heard of June Carter before this movie was released. I FINALLY got to see this movie on DVD, and it was very good, but I just can't believe that Reese Witherspoon won the Oscar over Felicity Huffman in TransAmerica. I think Whitherspoon did a wonderful job and definitely was deserving of the nomination, however when compared with what Huffman accomplished in her role, it wasn't even a close second. The way my nay-saying friends explain it is, "but she SANG!" Which is great, but if we are talking about giving away the award based on voice manipulation, again, I think Huffman wins. I think mainstream America got it's way on this one.
As a side note, (remember I don't know much about Johnny Cash), the film didn't do anything in the end to resolve the impression that he was a socially-stunted, skirt-chasing, fall-down drug addict, who essentially embarrassed June Carter (on stage) into marrying him. Sounds like a guy any of us would tell a girlfriend or daughter to stay far away from. Because it is stated that they remained married for many years, until dying within a few months of each other, we can assume that he cleaned up his act for good...but if you look at it logically, she actually placed herself and her daughters in a very precarious situation. I know romance is romance, especially when it comes to the Hollywood ending, but if it had been my best friend, I'd have told her she was CRAZY!