Junebug (2005)

"Two big thumbs up! A fantastic piece of work  Ebert and Roeper
"Grade A! Marvelous! So pure and moving!  Entertainment Weekly
"A wise, bittersweet, beautifully acted comedy...envelops us in the texture of a world that movies rarely visit.  Stephen Holden, The New York Times

Editor's Note Giving an art-film aesthetic to a touching family drama, director Phil Morrison and screenwriter Angus MacLachlan present their first feature, which was shot in their hometown of Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The film is set in nearby Pfafftown and Pilot Mountain, and location is itself a character in the film as long sequences of soundless photography show rows of houses, or rooms in a house, or stretches of farmland--capturing the essence of this area of the South. Successful, cosmopolitan, and adorable Chicago couple Madeleine (Embeth Davidtz) and George (Alessandro Nivola) meet at a fancy art auction where she is working as a dealer, and they are married six months later. Madeleine is recruiting an outsider artist, and she travels to rural North Carolina to meet him. George accompanies her, as he is originally from Pfafftown, and though it has been three years since he visited home, Madeleine insists on meeting his family. When she does, she finds herself in a world totally different from her own, and sees a new side of her husband. His mother Peg (Celia Weston) and father Eugene (Scott Wilson) are quiet homebodies who aren't sure what to make of Madeleine's sophisticated career and lilting British accent. George's deadbeat brother Johnny (Ben McKenzie) never finished high school, and lives at home with his young wife Ashley (Amy Adams), who is naive and bubbly--and very pregnant. While the family's simplicity, traditional values, and religion make them suspicious of Madeleine, Ashley is the one bright-eyed spirit who is happy to have Madeleine as a sister-in-law and celebrates her marriage to George. JUNEBUG is an effecting film that sheds light both on the always-surprising nature of in-laws, and the unique culture of the South.

	Alessandro Nivola
	Amy Adams
	Ben McKenzie
	Embeth Davidtz
	Angus MacLachlan - Writer
	David Doernberg - Production Designer
	Joe Klotz - Editor
	Mark P. Clein - Executive Producer
	Mindy Goldberg, et. al. - Producer
	Peter Donahue - Cinematographer
	Phil Morrison - Director
	Yo La Tengo - Original Music By

Entertainment Weekly
"[Amy Adams gives] a performance as deep as it is delightful. She's the film's heart and also its flaky wonderstruck soul." 08/12/2005 p.56

Movieline's Hollywood Life
"Embeth Davidtz is engaging...and Amy Adams is a revelation..." 07/01/2005 p.100

USA Today
"There is a gentle, contemplative quality to this film...which explores the bonds and tensions within this Southern family in an honest way. Davidtz is luminous and Nivola does a fine job as George?.JUNEBUG has the feel of a good short story or novella." 08/12/2005 p.15D

Entertainment Weekly
Included in Entertainment Weekly's Top Ten Films Of The Year -- "At last, a comedy of family dysfunction that's soulful and moonstruck instead of glib and reductive." 12/30/2005 p.117

Sight and Sound
"[A] slow-burning, acutely observed comedy of manners....Morrison's emphasis is firmly on character and dialogue..." 03/01/2006 p.62-63

Uncut
4 stars out of 5 -- "[T]he cast relish the dialogue's sure ring of authenticity..." 04/01/2006 p.132

Total Film
4 stars out of 5 -- "[A] fridge-humming study of domestic banality, sibling rivalry and intellectual mistrust..." 09/01/2006 p.100

Ultimate DVD
3 stars out of 5 -- "[Adams] is the film's real point of interest, incorporating both humour and pathos into the role of a put-upon young mother." 09/01/2006 p.214

Wall Street Journal
"Amy Adams didn't get star billing in this small, superb film....Yet there was no way to miss the startling fire and special grace that she brought to the role..." 03/13/2009

James Berardinelli's ReelViews 8 of 10
The first encounter with the family of a spouse (or would-be spouse) can be a daunting experience, especially when their world is not yours, and vice versa. For his feature debut, director Phil Morrison (from a script by Angus MacLachlan) takes us into a melodrama-free zone for this story. A keenly observed slice of life, Junebug captures the little comedies and tragedies of everyday living. There is sadness and humor here, but all understated. The film is mostly about the details of the characters' day-to-day personal dramas - why the VCR won't record, where the screwdriver is, etc. Junebug requires a certain amount of patience from its viewers. Those who provide that will be rewarded in the end. - James Berardinelli

Chicago Sun-Times 10 of 10
Junebug is a movie that understands, profoundly and with love and sadness, the world of small towns; it captures ways of talking and living I remember from my childhood, with the complexity and precision of great fiction. It observes small details that are important because they are details. It has sympathy for every character in the story and avoids two temptations: It doesn't portray the small-town characters as provincial hicks, and it doesn't portray the city slickers as shallow materialists. Phil Morrison, who directed this movie, and Angus MacLachlan, who wrote it, understand how people everywhere have good intentions, and how life can assign them roles where they can't realize them. - Roger Ebert