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PARK CITY -- Members of the chattering class (and there are a few here at Sundance) might reference this Southern set charmer as being filmed in the Mayberry area of North Carolina, where Andy and Barney lived. That's true, but as this fine film shows, upscale yuppie referencing is often a tad shallow, especially when understanding such regions as the South. A lilting family story, "Junebug" will be savored by viewers who appreciate the rhythms, pauses and family ties of a part of the country that does not pay attention to the "wisdom" or mores of the New York Times crowd.

Most people don't notice the junebug either, unless they are plastered against the grill of their car. Aptly, this smart and simple story uses that early summer swarmer as a fitting symbol for the presence of things that are not readily seen or understood and surely never appreciated.

In simple story terms, "Junebug" centers on an alien invasion: A pair of upscale married Chicagoans venture down South because Madeleine (Embeth Davidtz) has "discovered" a painter that she wishes to represent. It's fortuitous because her new husband, George (Alessandro Nivola), grew up just down the road a piece from the eccentric artist. So the newlyweds decide to kill two birds with one stone and visit George's family.

Madeleine has been raised as a diplomat's daughter and smugly loves "folk art" and the "Old South". It doesn't take long for George's family -- Mom, Dad and his twentysomething brother and sister-in-law who still live at home -- to appreciate that she is a "slicker." In a series of amusing scenes, Madeleine cultivates the eccentric artist (whom the locals admire as just another colorful coot) all the while jabbering away on her cell to the cultural elite. Not surprisingly, she ruffles a few feathers and gets her own wings clipped.

Yet "Junebug" is not merely a sitcom of cultural clash. Screenwriter Angus Maclachlan has delicately etched a compelling portrait of a way of life whose decencies and simplicities are often dismissed as being "unsophisticated." In like spirit, director Phil Morrison has succinctly depicted the richness of seemingly open green spaces, the genuineness of small-town suburban community. It's sometimes said that Southerners rejoice in their eccentrics and put them out on the porch for full display, rather than push them in the closet. Indeed, the filmmakers have given us a nicely filled porch.

The acting is graceful and rich, beginning with Amy Adams as a good-hearted chatterbox who is pregnant and living with her deadbeat husband's parents (Celia Weston, Scott Wilson). Davidtz hits all the right false notes as the condescending culture vulture. As her newly acquired husband, Nivola is outstanding as a young man who has left his old world and now struggles with new equilibrium, while Ben McKenzie is aptly sullen as the resentful "other" son.

Technical contributions are succinct and solid, reflective of the filmmaking talent in the Raleigh-Durham area.

Junebug

Epoch Films

Credits: Producers: Mindy Goldberg, Mike S. Ryan

Director: Phil Morrison

Screenwriter: Angus Maclachlan

Executive producers: Mark P. Clein, Ethan D. Leder, Daniel Rappaport, Dany Wolf

Director of photography: Peter Donahue

Production designer: David Doernberg

Editor: Joe Klotz

Costume designer: Danielle Kays

Music: Yo La Tengo

Casting: Mark Bennett

Cast:

Ashley: Embeth Davidtz

Johnny: Ben McKenzie

George: Alessandro Nivola

Peg: Celia Weston

Eugene: Scott Wilson

David Wark: Frank Hoyt Taylor

No MPAA rating

Running time -- 102 minutes...