Falling from Grace

John Mellencamp debuts as star and director in this feature about a country-western star who returns to his home in Indiana. He's tired of the grind of performing, tired of Los Angeles, and hopes to reconnect with roots, but discovers that you can't go home again.

It's a decent little movie, low-key in its performances, with Mellencamp working off a script by Larry McMurtry, and with a good cast that includes Mariel Hemingway, Dub Taylor, Kay Lenz and Claude Akins. Mellencamp doesn't sing, but he gives a solid performance.

So so. Couple fine performances from Kay Lenz as a small town tramp and Claude Akins as the mother of all despicable dads helps to elevate this meandering, overly talky film (de rigeur when you ask a great novelist to write the screenplay) slightly above the mediocrity bar. Big problem for me is that I just never bought the basic premise, that a well known country singer would throw over a loving marriage and a successful career to go back home to Doak City Indiana and marry his jilted high school sweetheart. Second biggest problem was John Mellenkamp's dull acting which sure as hell isn't going to get un dull if you're directing yourself. Third biggest problem was scenarist and veteran Texan Larry McMurtry making his Indiana middle border folks sound like they all wandered in from Archer City. Give it a C plus. PS...Nice location shooting in Hoosier country and a good country soundtrack also aid in making the story somewhat digestible.

Celebrity singers have always had a tough time breaking into the movies (the cinema is littered with failed attempts), and one can go on and on speculating as to why John Mellencamp never made it as an actor (to say nothing of his skills as a novice filmmaker). Instead of taking small parts in heartfelt projects, Mellencamp dives right in playing the lead in "Falling From Grace", which he also directed, and the awkward results are as unbecoming as the film's title. Story of a famous singer returning to his hometown in the sticks, opening up old family wounds, boasts a screenplay by Larry McMurtry, but the meandering drama goes nowhere slowly. The decent supporting cast includes quirky Kay Lenz (always a welcome sight), Mariel Hemingway and Claude Akins, and yet there's only one well-directed scene in the movie (when Akins attempts to force himself on Hemingway in the kitchen). John's performance is a mixed bag; he doesn't look particularly comfortable in front of the camera--despite the apparent effort to make him feel at home--and he never makes a direct connection with the audience. Still, this was a bold move for the performer, and the ballsy effort alone results in a bit of admiration. *1/2 from ****

I watched this movie because Richard Roeper said that it was a "hidden gem" and that he had offered a "money back guarantee" to anyone who didn't like the movie. He said this on an episode of "At the Movies" where Mellencamp was the guest reviewer.

Anyway...I'm not going to demand my money back from Roeper, but I thought the movie was only so-so. I agree with others who thought the beginning was much stronger than the end. I also thought that the movie didn't adequately resolve the (admittedly difficult) problem of how to convey the numbing boredom of small-town life without itself being boring.

Some good moments, but overall too clichéd and too pat an ending. I do agree that it was WONDERFUL to see the great Claude Akins and Dub Taylor.

This was a po' boys "Pure Country". Looks like Mellencamp decided to make a movie around the time his buddy George Strait did. The result, unfortunately, was a boring look at small town America where the folks act a lot like their big city brethren. It was just a big yawn concerning husband and wife problems, with Mellencamp continually pushing his lank hair off his rather apish forehead. The boy needs to stick with what he is good at, whatever that is - it sure isn't singing.