A FINE `MORNING' FOR ASHLEY JUDD.Byline: Glenn Whipp Film Critic Actress Joey Lauren Adams goes the Damon/Affleck route with ``Come Early Morning,'' writing a meaty part for herself between job offers. But to get her character-driven, regional drama made, Adams needed an A-list star, which meant her dream part went to Ashley Judd Ashley Judd (born April 19, 1968) is an American actress. She is perhaps best known for her leading roles in a series of late 1990s and early 2000s thrillers, including Kiss the Girls, Double Jeopardy and High Crimes. with Adams settling into the director's chair. In one respect, it's not a bad trade, as Judd delivers an emotionally complex portrait of a woman haunted and hindered by the legacy of her family's history of alcoholism and infidelity. While Adams' direction isn't particularly distinctive and the movie fails to deliver much beyond a tidy tale of personal triumph, the film does provide a small measure of hope to those despairing that Judd's career would be forever mired mire n. 1. An area of wet, soggy, muddy ground; a bog. 2. Deep slimy soil or mud. 3. A disadvantageous or difficult condition or situation: the mire of poverty. v. in a quagmire of bad psychological thrillers. Two distinct personas Judd plays Lucy, a competent construction contractor by day who turns into a sexually promiscuous lush at night. Lucy has her cut-and-run, one-night-stand routine down pat. So pat that when she meets Cal (Jeffrey Donovan), a man interested in more than just sex, Lucy has no idea how to react. She panics. Her straight-arrow roommate (an appealing Laura Prepon Laura Prepon (born March 7, 1980) is an American actress, best known for her role as Donna Pinciotti on the Fox television series That '70s Show and Hannah Daniels on the ABC television series October Road. ) asks: ``Don't you ever meet someone and wonder what they looked like when they were little?'' Lucy's problems, as Adams' script makes abundantly clear, stem from her strained relationship with her father (Scott Wilson Scott Wilson may refer to: A person's name:
Adams shot the film in her hometown of North Little Rock, Ark. It's a Southern story, but not cloying in the way that many Hollywood versions of the rustic South are. (``The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood is a novel written by Rebecca Wells. It is the sequel to Little Altars Everywhere. Unlike its predecessor, which is a series of short stories, Divine Secrets is a novel. ,'' which also starred Judd, comes to mind.) A good fit Kentucky woman "Kentucky Woman" by Deep Purple was their second single release in 1968, although not as high charting as "Hush" in the U.K. or the States it did reach top 20 chart status in Australia, as this was their first major hit in that country. Judd knows the territory, slipping into Lucy's Wrangler jeans Wrangler is one of the oldest and most popular jeans brands in the world. The brand is owned by the VF Corporation, who also own Lee, JanSport and The North Face, among others. with ease. Judd does a rather amazing job sifting through this woman's lifetime of pain. Watch her face during the scene where Lucy makes love sober for the first time in her life. Judd moves from ecstasy to uncertainty to bashfulness and back again with a mastery that tells you everything you need to know about the character. Welcome back, Ashley. Now, could you please stay away from those women-in-peril movies? Glenn Whipp, (818) 713-3672. glenn.whipp@dailynews.com COME EARLY MORNING - Two and one half stars (R: language, sexual situations) Starring: Ashley Judd, Jeffrey Donovan. Director: Joey Lauren Adams. Running time: 1 hr. 37 min. Playing: Laemmle's Town Center 5 in Encino; Laemmle's Playhouse 7 in Pasadena; Laemmle's Village Twin in Westlake Village; Laemmle's Sunset 5 in West Hollywood West Hollywood A community of southern California northeast of Beverly Hills. It is mainly residential. Population: 36,600. ; Landmark's Westside Pavilion in West Los Angeles
In a nutshell: Ashley Judd returns to the land of the living in this tidy tale of personal triumph. CAPTION(S): photo Photo: Ashley Judd does a beautiful job as the emotionally fractured Lucy in ``Come Early Morning.'' |
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