Walk the Thin Line

Rating: 7/10 (22 April 2006)

I watched and enjoyed this movie at home, from DVD. But, while watching, I was glad I had not seen it in the theater. Frankly, it was simply not captivating enough to hold my attention. This is odd, because in the true and larger sense of the word, I am a lifelong Johnny Cash fan, a FANATIC! The thin-voiced spastically moving performer depicted here would not have made a fanatic of me or anyone. Since Phoenix can't get believability when the character is on stage performing, he is bound to make Cash an uninteresting clod off stage. Nothing of the very special nature of Cash's talent comes through.
The audition scene was embarrassing. No record producer would indulge this garage band singer another note after hearing him hack up the gospel songs he'd sung all his life. How do you make a mega-star like Johnny Cash seem to be a trivial jerk? Apparently, you hire Joachin Phoenix to play him. How do you make a lifetime of music seem a silly mistake? You get Phoenix to sing it.
All this disappointment with Cash helps to point out the extremely high quality performance of Reese Witherspoon as June Carter. Her accents, manner, presence, and yes, her singing all add up to a boffo tour de force that even further diminishes Phoenix's futile attempt ape the icon.
Dabbling with Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison, and mentioning Bob Dylan all fail to validate this actor's attempt at showing Cash in his natural origins. We never get to know the real man. And Phoenix sees to it that we don't even want to. I just hope those who are not familiar with the real Johnny go out and listen to the real stuff. 'Cause if they don't, and this is all they see and hear, they'll wonder what all the fuss was about.