Reviews

This is a very well-done, gentle romantic movie, with excellent acting, especially from Kristen Wiig. Family members and I had not heard of Ms. Wiig before seeing this movie recently on a movie channel. We understand now that she is mainly a comedic actor, so it was good to see this movie without knowing that in advance.

This movie seems geared more toward an audience from the South or Midwest. Members of my family have hired young female caregivers like Johanna Parry (Ms. Wiig's character, who is the movie's main character) to take care of our parents before their death. So we can probably better relate to Ms. Parry than many folks who might consider her a little odd.

This movie does something that Hollywood rarely does: it shines a light (and a sympathetic one at that) on working-class American white people. We know of working-class white women like Ms. Parry, who are not "ambitious" (in the traditional sense of the word), and thus seem content not having many impressive possessions, work titles, social status, etc. So to us, the movie is quite realistic in this sense.

Our only criticisms of the movie: the ending seems a bit rushed (is there a director's cut?); and, knowing some working-class men with drug problems, we felt that actor Guy Pearce was too handsome, polished, well-built, and well-spoken to play Ken, the movie's principal male character. Actors like Edward Norton would have been more believable in the role.

But, on the whole, we highly recommend this movie, and hope it draws a large viewer-ship via cable TV.

The movie version was well done. Elizabeth Banks was excellent. Jennifer Lawrence was too tall and well-fed for the book's smallish Katniss. I thought the young actors, except for the tall, tough-looking blond actress, Leven Rambin, who played Glimmer, looked too small and soft, especially the actors who played Cato and Clove. Cato and Clove were huge in size and ferocious-looking in the book. Cato was especially a major presence in the book, but much less so in the movie. I thought the tough-looking Mr. Hemsworth should have played Cato, and the tall, tough-looking Ms. Rambin should have played Clove. Too many times pretty boys and girls in Hollywood don't look and talk tough enough, and that's why they can't transition to adult action roles. I was disappointed in the book and movie that religion was left out completely, especially Christianity. Latinos were non-existent, yet they are the fastest-growing minority in the U.S. right now. Maybe they were wiped out in District 13?