Come Early Morning
 Scraps  rates it:    Community rates it:
   205 of 442 readers found this review helpful.

Ah, the chick flick. Tales of love and loss from a woman’s point of view that drag tears out of the more ovary-inclined audience members. Unless it’s really well done, they normally bore me to a light slumber. And while the pacing of “Come Early Morning” had me drifting towards slumberland a couple of times, there was something about it that kept me interested, and I can’t tell if it was the compelling acting of Ashley Judd, or my morbid curiosity waiting for something bad to happen (these usually end with a beating or breast cancer, so you can see why I was glued to the set).


Lucy Fowler (Judd) is a 30something construction worker who’s never settled down with a man. In the South, this is also known as “lesbianism”, but we know better. She just prefers the simplicity of the one night stand to the whole relationship scene, and after we meet her family, it’s easy enough to see why. The marriages that do exist are venomous, and her parents are divorced, probably due to her dad’s habit of bedding down women that weren’t his wife, but who are we to judge.


So Lucy’s stuck in a vicious cycle. Everyone needs affection (at least according to Dr. Kohlberg) and Lucy can find it temporarily, but isn’t comfortable making the leap into a long-term relationship, or even one that lasts an entire sundial rotation. Tall, dark and handsome stranger Cal (Jeffrey Donovan) shows interest, but can’t get Lucy to be a one man woman. Luckily through meeting her family early we see where she’s coming from, otherwise she’d just come off as a bitter old bartramp.


While the genre normally isn’t my cup of tea (hell, I don’t even like tea) Judd’s performance kept me watching through the 97 minutes. Normally she’s a stunning actress, so even in the most mundane of roles she at least easy on the eyes, but as Lucy she was stripped of the glamour and bares the rough side of aging, and not so gracefully. She really brought the character to life, and within 10 minutes you forgot you were watching a Judd in action. Without her, you’re left with a slow moving painful to watch drama about people that you can’t attach to emotionally.


The guy in me can’t bring me to tell you to make “Come Early Morning” a part of your collection…but if it’s movie night and your date refuses to rent anything with fire, guns, Satanic cheerleaders or bare knuckle fighting, steer her towards this to avoid watching some tear-jerker about a cancer ridden divorcee. 2 ½ cans out of 5.

Added:  Wednesday, March 07, 2007

Language: eng[ Did you find this review helpful?  Yes  No ]
[ Back to reviews index ]

Want to comment on this review?
Register here for a free user account, and you'll be able to.