Plot line issues slow the film

Rating: 7/10 (6 December 2005)

When my mother and father came home from this movie, I asked "How was it?", expecting the real deal from people who remember some of the events portrayed in this movie. Besides my dad's opinion of how great Joaquin Phoenix was, they basically didn't tell me too much besides that. On their word, I was thinking that it's probably going to be a great movie.
And so when I sat down with a friend to watch this movie, I was entranced by it. The performances of the main actors (Phoenix, Witherspoon), and a great supporting role with Robert Patrick were far and away the highlights of this movie, and merit going to see the film on just this.
But the problems with the movie are the timing. There's a whole slew of things that just didn't make sense, was put together in a fast-forward fashion, and some scenes completely pointless. In this, it reminded me of the Doors movie, which also had great acting by the leads and some of the cast, along with a very important childhood event, but overall, the plot was what killed it.
Don't get me wrong, Phoenix and Witherspoon save the plot enough because you're so entranced with their performances that most of it doesn't matter, but the fact that some of the other people are looked over (the Tennessee Two - and then Tennessee Three by far here, have no explanation), and some people are added to the movie for no specific reason (Waylon Jennings. Played by his grandson).
Basically you're getting the cream (and the dirt) of a five to eight year period in Cash's life (I'm not even discussing the children part) with no real conception of time, and no thorough glance at any specific song.
When you leave the theater and actually think about the film, you realize that they're basically just throwing things at you hoping they're going to stick, plot wise. And though a whole lot of it does, the overall feeling of it is not as good as I'd hoped.