Come Early Morning (2006)

Wonderful Movie

A Disappointing Continuation

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

"Come Early Morning" demonstrates that verisimilitude is not enough to make compelling art. Ashley Judd gives a convincing performance as the aptly named "Loose," or Lucy, a promiscuous, poor, white, Southern high-functioning drunk. She wanders from bar to bar, man to man, bed to bed. She drinks beer. She listens to country music from a juke box. She rides a pickemup truck through Southern fields, trailer parks, junk-filled yards, to storefront church services, and to a swamp for some bullfrog spearing, to be followed by a lunch of bullfrog legs. And that's about all that happens. Don't expect a conventional narrative.Lucy's father is emotionally unavailable, and he cheated on her mother. That may be the cause of Lucy's emotional dysfunction, or maybe not. The movie never makes clear, and the script's author probably did not know. One does not know if Lucy is the way she is because of a birth defect, or because of a childhood trauma, or because booze has softened her brain and corrupted her soul. We don't know if personal guilt or brain synapses are the root cause of Lucy's unhappiness. We don't know if she should find a good shrink, or AA meeting, or man, or exorcist. This movie's lack of curiosity about what makes Lucy Lucy and where her life story will go after the final, inconclusive frame, alienated this viewer.What would have made this movie a successful work of art? Oh, how about those timeworn conventions of plot, character development, complication, climax, denouement? Yeah, sure, plot conventions and artistic excellence are old fashioned, but humanity has been making use of them for thousands of years because they make for satisfying art.Ashley Judd's portrayal of a self-sabotaging, emotionally abusive, unreachable woman is very convincing. Lucy is certainly unlikable. The viewer senses that if she invests in Lucy, Lucy will trash and abandon the viewer just as she trashes and abandons the men she has sex with and then insults and abandons. This movie left me stone cold, and in places it was hard to watch -- saying that makes it sound more interesting than it was. I come away from it feeling it gave me nothing for my investment – not new insight, or memorable lines or well played scenes or shots that brought a landscape and culture home to me or anything memorable.

This film was merely okay. I felt that the main character of Lucy showed very little development... She deals with her emotional problems by sleeping around and that's about it. Also, Lucy seems to be worried about her relationship with her father. It is obviously strained, so she makes small attempts to improve their situation. She seems to be distraught over this bad relationship, and eventually has the chance to confront her father. I won't give anything away, but for what should have been a very climactic scene...things went absolutely nowhere.Her relationship with her "sort-of boyfriend" also has a lack of development. Nothing, at all, moves along...While the characters are realistic in terms of personality, life is certainly about learning from mistakes... I strongly feel that you don't participate in this film as the viewer. You don't learn with Lucy, and you certainly don't grow with her in any way. She is fairly one-dimensional.I like Joey Lauren Adams a lot, especially as an actor. I think that she's incredibly talented and for her first stab at directing, she should be satisfied. It's very hard to direct and it takes years and years to master. I think that Joey should put more time into her screen plays and try to develop her plots as much as possible. Is the film realistic? For the most part it's accurate personalities of people--but it doesn't really go anywhere beyond that. Overall, it's fair. Not a waste of time but not thrilling. I look forward to checking out her future efforts...

Ashley Judd is Lucy Fowler, bright and strong-willed, but with no direction and no boundaries. She has gotten to the point where she drinks too much, then takes home any half-decent guy who shows an interest in her. The next morning, sober, she seems to regret what she has done, but not much.Ashley Judd is super in her role. She is pretty but not glamorous, and she really makes us believe she is what she is playing.The story is a journey to see if Lucy can redeem herself. She can never truly love and respect someone else if she can't do that for herself first. She meets what appears to be a really nice guy, but she pushes him away, physically and emotionally.SPOILERS. It would't be much of a story to tell if Lucy didn't change, and if she spiraled down into an even worse state. We see her changing, and the prospects look good, but for me the transition seemed too abrupt. Still, a decent movie.

great movie. Just a good, honest, satisfying movie. I went with my fiancé to go see this movie at the crossroads film festival and this one made me feel really glad that we have a quality, local film festival in Jackson. I thought the movie tried at every turn to not go for sentimentality or cheap emotion, but nonetheless had some real moments of pain and hope. It is good to see a movie that really tries to say something and doesn't pander. The movie is good in the way that "Half Nelson" is, it presents real problems that people face and the true difficulties which accompany these difficulties. The south i portrayed in a refreshing and legitimate fashion. This is a movie that reminds you that there are so many good movies out there that are just under the surface, much better in quality than 90% of the large-release movies.