64
Metascore
16 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 75Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerChristian Science MonitorPeter RainerAdams has a good camera eye and a fine feeling for the regional mores of the South, where she's from. Judd, who for a change isn't being terrorized in a thriller, is more nuanced and intense than she's ever been.
- 75The A.V. ClubTasha RobinsonThe A.V. ClubTasha Robinson"Chasing Amy" star Joey Lauren Adams makes a competent, tender writing and directing debut with Come Early Morning, but the film is still entirely in Judd's hands.
- 70The Hollywood ReporterKirk HoneycuttThe Hollywood ReporterKirk HoneycuttA simple story yet told with such conviction, delicacy and instinct for truth that it carries keen emotional power. This is the first film from actress Joey Lauren Adams, so one can only hope she has more stories inside her for she has genuine storytelling talent.
- 70L.A. WeeklyElla TaylorL.A. WeeklyElla TaylorNo new narrative ground is broken, but there's a lived-in, musical feel to this tale of a fiercely independent, thoroughly screwed-up building contractor (Ashley Judd, in a pleasing return to the directness of her first significant role, in Victor Nunez's "Ruby in Paradise").
- 63Chicago TribuneChicago TribuneArtfully shot and excruciatingly honest, the movie has great intentions but can't quite overcome its outsized sense of self-importance.
- 60The New York TimesStephen HoldenThe New York TimesStephen HoldenAn incisive but static and occasionally confusing character study of Lucy Fowler, a disheveled, hard-drinking single woman who has a day job as a contractor and a dissolute night life.
- 60Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternWall Street JournalJoe MorgensternThe script is somewhat predictable and the pace is leisurely, but Ms. Judd makes Lucy's choices seem momentous, and Ms. Adams gives us several beautiful scenes.
- 50VarietyTodd McCarthyVarietyTodd McCarthyDespite her (Judd's) efforts and those of a generally talented cast, picture just pokes along and offers nothing out of the ordinary in terms of drama, characterization or insight. Judd's presence notwithstanding, this one would be more at home on small than on big screens.
- 50Village VoiceVillage VoiceJudd's typically lived-in performance and the authentic Arkansas locations -- cramped bars, dusty roads -- help vaguely distinguish a movie that comes on like a minor-key reprise of Judd's breakthrough "Ruby in Paradise" and every other rural indie melodrama to grace Sundance since.
- 20Film ThreatPete Vonder HaarFilm ThreatPete Vonder HaarThe end result is stale, clumsy, and about as compelling as an average episode of "As the World Turns."