Junebug.

My Rating

(out of 5 envelopes):

MPAA Rating: R
Runtime: 107 minutes
Genre: Independent, Drama, Comedy

A quick forewarning: if you don’t like movies that don’t blatantly state the purpose of the story or don’t wrap everything up by the end of the movie, then I highly recommend that you stay away from this film.

The focus of the film is on newlyweds George (Alessandro Nivola), a native of North Carolina, and Madeline (Embeth Davitz), a Chicago art dealer. Madeline must make a trip in attempt to sign an unknown artist who paints his interpretation of the Civil War. Coincidentally, the North Carolina town the artist resides in is right next to George’s hometown. The couple figures they might as well kill two birds with one stone, so they decide to visit George’s family. His family consists of the hard-on-the-outside mother, Peg (Celia Weston), the quiet father, Eugene (Scott Wilson), and the sullen younger brother Johnny (Ben McKenzie) and his heavily pregnant and cheerful wife Ashley (Amy Adams). See below for trailer.

What makes this film so amazing is the complexity of the characters. Through the dialogue, actions, and even unspoken moments, Junebug shows there is more to the characters than how they appear on the surface. This quality makes them seem realistic and easier to relate to. The only character I wish they had focused on more was George. When the movie began, I thought he was going to be one of the main characters. For me, he sort of faded into the background until the end. Maybe this was supposed to say something about his character that I didn’t get. Either way, I would have liked to have seen more of him.

The acting in this film was top notch. Ben McKenzie and Celia Weston were amazing as their characters. Amy Adams, in her Oscar-Nominated performance, steals the spotlight here, though. Her bubbly character brightened up scenes and made me laugh. In the not-so-cheerful scenes, she made my heart sink. However, every actor made his character seem multi-dimensional and genuine, part of what makes this movie what it is.

Junebug really shows how difficult communicating with each other really is. I love how this movie doesn’t really have an ending. It makes it seem more realistic; in real life, a family’s problems can’t be solved in an hour and a half.

Netflix Page for Junebug