A pulse-pounder on all levels

Rating: 7/10 (25 November 2005)

Excellent performances, a heartbreaking and inspiring love story, and a chance to finally see Reese really shine. The best parts are the scenes on the road with Elvis and Jerry Lee. And it's nice to see a regional film shot on location in the real places that does not condescend to southern accents or culture. It gets a bit repetitive, maudlin and dirge-like as Johnny's ache for June wears on, and the film's examination of Cash's drug-addled, room-wrecking cliché of a superstar life don't go beyond your average "Behind the Music" episode. It's kind of sick how we celebrate the antics of self-destructive misfits instead of trying to get them some help, but at least Cash fell in love with a woman who was not an enabler. She saved his life.