Judd romantic drama is a dud.
Besides basic genes, facial similarities and love for blue jeans, in Joey Lauren Adams’ ode to Southern sophisticated redneck styled living there is a lot more that gets passed onto our offspring. Treading into the like father, like daughter domain, Come Early Morning diagnoses one’s tendency for one-night stands as an inability to allow true happiness to transpire. Reeking of Stetson Cologne, hand picked flowers and day old empty beer bottles this first screenplay is crippled not by Lauren Adams’ no-frills tonality but by the actual source material and her hand at directing.
Well supported by props such as beaten-up pick up trucks and several cases of Americana’s beverage of choice (look for the humorous onslaught of product placement for Coors Light), Lauren Adams’ low end drama maintains this half-cerebral/half-comatose condition throughout. The protagonist played by Ashley Judd is the sort of character that has the deposition of being a brilliant entrepreneur contractor by day and classic idiot by night and when the perfect specimen enters the scenario, the redundant entering of the psychological space of a girl who thinks that kissing men while sober means she might actually end up liking the guy makes for a run of the mill template more in tune with made for television temperaments.
David Gordon Green’s cinematographer Tim Orr offers a less than inspiring contribution to Lauren Adam’s corny reflection, and the manner in which the tale delves into drowning one’s sorrows comes across as artificial as the content in those bottles of beer. Perhaps this Sundance approved selection has a chance with target markets such as Kentucky, but as a whole it chokes on itself for its lack of originality – the whole afraid of commitment, distrust in men and pops is somehow responsible for this cow girl’s series of one night stands sort of dilemma is simply to one boring film conversation we can do without.
January 26 – Sundance 2006.
