Falling From Grace

Customer Reviews:

Mellencamp as the Sinner of Seymour.......2007-06-09

John Mellencamp does a fine job of directing this movie which stars himself and a cast of good players. He portrays a singing star, country
not rock, who returns to his family home in Seymour, Indiana, and soon
is wronging his wife, played by sexy Mariel Hemingway. Mellencamp's
dad and grandpa, the wonderful actors Claude Akins and Dub Taylor, are
seriously oversexed, and the curse has descended down to him. Everyone
despises his weakness, himself most of all. Mellencamp resolves his
guilt in the most boneheaded way imaginable. Don't try this at home!
I like the verisimilitude of this southern Indiana-shot movie. You
will savor the sights of the porches and kitchens, chicken farm, tavern,
fishin' creek, beer 'n' shot joint, and diner, where mean Claude Akins
delivers a beat-up. Actors are fine; look for folk-singer John Prine.
Some people have roasted Mellencamp's performance; I think he is adequately natural. To sum, a "little movie that could."

An OK first movie..........2005-01-05

I bought this film because I'm a big Mellencamp fan, and Roger Ebert praised it highly. Plus, the script came from Larry McMurtry, author of "Lonesome Dove", "The Last Picture Show", etc.

The good stuff first: Mellencamp proves himself to be an adequate director.

Surprisingly, for a first time out, it's a perfectly fine directorial debut. Nothing flashy...actually it's anti-flashy, befitting the material. No major screw-ups. Close-up, two-shot, pan...it's fine.

He definitely has screen presence, if not real acting chops. He's fine for the role he's in, yet you can see (or feel) the hesitation before lines; he knows when he's supposed to come in...he moves well, but you still get the feeling he's "reading" his lines.

His grandfather is a hoot, and his father malevolent enough for what happens in the film.

Overall though, the movie isn't terribly good. Much of the acting from the other characters seemed forced; the line reading flat. Other characters barely existed at all. There are a lot of characters, by the way. Bud Parks (Mellencamp) has a wife (Mariel Hemingway) and a daughter. He's visiting from Hollywood, as he's a huge country star coming home to visit. He's got a brother, married to Bud's old high school girlfriend (Kay Lenz). They have a passel of kids. He's got a sister, married to some guy, and they have money problems. He's got an illegitimate but widely acknowledged half-brother, who appears to be most close to him. He has a mom, a grandmother, a father and a grandfather...none of whom are divorced, yet spend no time with each other. There's a friend/caretaker/employee or two (or three). Most of the men are clearly scum. Most of the women are saintly, with a few marked exceptions.

The Southern Gothic aspect of the script I didn't think worked. The actors didn't make me believe they could do the things they did. Does that make sense?
Sometimes in a film, characters do unrealistic things, but because of the craft of acting, screenwriting...of filmmaking...you get so carried away that it doesn't matter.
Better yet, those supposedly "unrealistic" things become possible, even "real."

None of this happened here.

Here's the thing: I love Mellencamp, and actually think he could really be something on screen. There is that something about him that works. It's just that here there are too many things that don't work here...and by the time the film was over (100 minutes, but due to it's deliberate pacing, felt like twice that) I just didn't give a hoot about any of them.

great movie.......2004-10-17

i have no idea why so many folks are bashing this film. sure its not a special effects extravaganza with a huge hollywood budget . but as a movie exploring small town life and the things left behind its pretty good. mellencamp's acting is suttle but pretty decent in my opinion. the ultimate test of a good movie is if it entertains and it did the trick for me.

Chick flick!.......2002-09-05

I was disappointed. It's not a terrible movie,
but it is very slow & painful at times.

I love John though.
That's the reason for 3 stars!

One of THE WORSE movies I have ever seen!.......2002-03-20

This movie was AWFUL. What the heck was this movie? John Mellencamp playing HIMSELF? The man is a medocre actor, at very best. The rest of the actors were WORSE. The plot was dumber than dumb. Long and drawn out, with no redeeming value whatsoever. Do NOT buy this movie! I would have not given it ANY STARS if that option was available, so I had to settle on giving it one star. Too bad, since I really enjoy Mellencamp's music.

DVD:

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