Road Less Traveled

I really was not a fan of the beginning of this movie. In fact, I was ready to write a whole thing about a side character having a much better love story than the protagonist. And although that might still be the case, the story went in a different direction than I guessed, so I have to give the movie some props for that. Something happens and the characters are all more likable in the last 20 minutes.

Though I still think too much time was dedicated to Babs's wine company.

I rented this for my wife. She's into the romantic genre and I liked the cover intro of the story. As for myself, I've been expecting this showing to be the usual formulaic boy meets girl, girl has trouble deciding, conflict evolves, emotions roil among parties, parties resolve situation---film credits run. Not so. This was a step above the rest. The development of the characters, the swing country music, the good songs and lyrics made this cynic into a believer, But I am not averse to enjoying country music, or the pastoral scenes of a bucolic way of life. Those were to my preferences and very appropriate for the plot. It was the portrayal of the reality within the story and the people in it. It had depth and talent that I never expected from a cast that I'm not familiar with, that went beyond the banal and trite. It was a good evening's viewing.

It's a typical romance genre movie. Hard times that work out in the end. It's more like something you'd watch on TV when you don't feel like something heavy. The story is not that bad and the acting is passable. Except the main star, Lauren Alaina, can obviously sing, but her talents don't transpose well across to acting.

She cannot act pretty scenery but she is so disrespectful to her grandma

I really enjoyed the movie! It did start out a little slow, but it picked up soon after. I laughed a good bit. Lauren Alaina has a beautiful voice. I absolutely loved hearing her sing "Holding the Other" while Ray played guitar. She put so much emotion into it. this one is well worth watching. James Welch Henderson, Arkansas 01/02/2021