Succeeds largely due to its two powerful central performances and some awesome music

Rating: 8/10 (26 March 2015)

Even though I'm not really a country music fan and have only ever listened to Johnny Cash in passing, WALK THE LINE is still one of the best musical biopics I've seen. Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon have great chemistry on screen that helps to sell the lifelong friendship and later, romance, that developed between Johnny and June Carter Cash. They also chose a good period of Cash's life to focus on that helps to establish a perfect narrative arc and deliver one of the best happy endings I've ever seen. Still, the road to that happy ending isn't easy. Johnny Cash wasn't the nicest person in the world and it really wore on my patience to see him making the same mistakes over and over again. But beneath it all, there was an admirable persistence that came through despite him being so unlikeable for so much of the film. The film also features some great toe-tapping music with Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon actually lending their voices to the timeless tunes. And again, it's partially this element which makes their portrayal of these people so good. The only issue I took with the film is that it was a little too long. After several times of Johnny Cash messing up with drugs and alcohol I got the point, so some of the later sequences bordered on overkill. Going into the film you already know how it will turn out and forgive me if I want to get to the happy ending a little quicker. There were also some genre clichés that are a little bit more noticeable now that a lot of these types of films (and parodies of those films) exist. But despite all of that, I can forgive these "sins" for the music and crowd-pleasing resolution to the story. Overall, WALK THE LINE is able to mostly transcend its clichés through its earnest and heartfelt execution. If you're a fan of good music and good films, you should enjoy this.