Same Old, Same Old

Rating: 6/10 (28 November 2005)

"Walk the Line" is a warmed over version of "Ray," trotted out just in time for Oscar consideration, shrewd timing since the Academy never saw a biopic it didn't like.
The problem is that "Walk the Line" is inferior to "Ray" in just about every way, and I wasn't even a huge fan of the latter picture. If you don't know anything about Johnny Cash, or what it was about his music that makes him such a legendary figure, you won't learn it here. As played by Joaquin Phoenix in a horribly mannered performance, Cash started out his career barely able to function from one day to the next, and never really improved until the love of a good woman (enter June Carter) turned him around. Phoenix's performance is one-note, all mumbled lines and eye-rolling freak out scenes. There's absolutely nothing interesting about Cash in this version of events, and there's no explanation of what it was about him that June Carter was so drawn to. Reese Witherspoon gives the better performance, but the material she's given limits the impact she can make. Johnny and June's relationship is muddled and ambiguous. I could never tell whether they were involved or not until his final freak out scene when he clumsily gets her to agree to marry him (don't even ask me why she'd want to).
The biggest tragedy of this movie is that it doesn't provide any insight into what made Cash a genius, or how the demons he was working through influenced the kind of music he wanted to make. Tepid as I thought "Ray" was, it at least accomplished that much.
I've heard some people say that the performances in "Walk the Line" are better than the movie itself. Revise that to read Reese Witherspoon's performance is better than the movie, and I'll agree.
Grade: C+