Come Early Morning

COME EARLY MORNING is not only a marvelous Joey Lauren Adams film, but is something which an audience can empathize with in watching the sun's rays fall upon Ashley Judd as she wakes up next to a man that she has long forgotten from the night before. With early morning, the film is about facing your demons and the truth about yourself and your past.

Ms. Judd nails her character to a "T" and the supporting cast is really wonderful in bringing out her past and more importantly, about what she has attempted to accomplish in her young life in a male world. The film is painful, and yet also joyous, in watching the journey which Judd has taken in gaining self worth, and happiness. The last scene is rich and memorable for a film heavy with pathos, pain and anger.

COME EARLY MORNING brings Ashley Judd front and center in her career as an important and talented actress in American cinema.

Greetings again from the darkness. First time writer and director Joey Lauren Adams is probably best known as Amy in "Chasing Amy". Here she bares her soul in a story based on her life in Little Rock, Arkansas.

The premise of the emotionally absent local girl (a very earth turn by Ashley Judd) who drinks away her pain while sleeping with many a different guy is not necessarily a bad place to start when telling a story of self discovery. What goes wrong here is just the constant cloud of depressing people and scenes. We have no one to pull for (except maybe Kim, played cheerily by Laura Prepon from "That 70's Show") as they all seem to be drowning in a sea of self pity. Perhaps that is Ms. Adams point.

The supporting cast is impressive and solid with Jeffrey Donovan, Diane Ladd, Scott Wilson, Stacy Keach, Tim Blake Nelson and Pat Corley. Sadly, none are really given much to work with as far as script or character development. While, as a writer, Ms. Adams shows little promise, we should not give up just yet on her directorial abilities. She does a nice job of capturing small town U.S.A.

Talented Joey Lauren Adams wrote and directed this marvelous slice-of-life about a hard, stubborn, unapologetic young woman's journey to finding some self-worth in her quietly turbulent existence; she attempts to get her head in a good place and make peace with the past, but learns it doesn't all come into play overnight. Ashley Judd is just wonderful in the lead: gritty, tremulous, tough, never dumbed-down, she evokes just the right touch of devil-may-care recklessness with a kind of horse-sense which should resonate with a lot of viewers. If you ever come across this theatrical film playing on the Lifetime network, don't be fooled into thinking it's a cable-quickie. Adams puts a lot of thought into her prose (sometimes too much, as the conversations have a tendency to have an already worked-out give and take). The film is flawed, certainly, yet its scattershot hopefulness permeates through, and the performances are rich and memorable. A rewarding character-study, and a small triumph for both creator Adams and star Judd, marking a welcome return to serious acting. *** from ****

Ashley Judd gives a remarkable performance in this film but there are lots of other reasons to see it. Indeed, the music is very good, and there is a CD soundtrack (I checked Amazon as soon as I came home).

There are many painful moments as an extended and frayed family tries to talk to each other, or avoid it. It's about being stuck in old patterns and being clueless about making changes, no matter how old the people are.

I know one reason the film got local buzz is because it was filmed here, but as someone who hasn't lived in AR long, I was just an average movie goer looking to see Judd in something that was not a highly charged thriller. Ruby in Paradise (1993) was the first time I ever saw her, and that film about how to survive when no matter what you do doesn't seem enough, showed her talent. Come Early Morning evoked the same feelings.

The whole project seems a labor of love, love of real people living ordinary lives and doing the best they can.

COME EARLY MORNING marks the writing and directing debut of Joey Lauren Adams who elects to share a bit of her birthplace atmosphere in Arkansas and while the story is sound and the writing evocative of the personal turmoil of little towns populated by good but bored people, there is nothing new here. But just the opportunity to see gifted actress Ashley Judd strut her stuff is reason enough to watch this little film and makes us wonder where has she been since her 2004 stint in 'De-Lovely'. She is just too fine an actress not to be given more beefy roles.

Lucy Fowler (Judd) lives in a little Arkansas town, a successful contractor with boss Owen Allen (Stacy Keach, another underused fine actor), but a woman without a firm attachment to her fragmented family: her shy and sequestered father (Scott Wilson) has returned to town where he hides in alcohol and steps out only for Holy Roller church services; her grandmothers Doll (Candyce Hinkle) is unstable and keeps to herself and Nana (Diane Ladd) remains in a mutually abusive marriage; and her uncle Tim (Tim Blake Nelson) who is the only stalwart member of the clan. Lucy lives with her friend Kim (Laura Prepon) who understands Lucy's shortcomings: unable to form relationships, Lucy spends her weekends getting drunk at the local tavern and sleeping with anonymous men whom she deserts a dawn.

But things change when Lucy encounters Cal Percell (Jeffrey Donovan) who provides her with the first semblance of normalcy in her relationships with men, a frightening new step she abuses by entering into her drinking mode again. Lucy begins to make changes in her view of her family, her fear of being the mirror image of her father, in her work, and in the way she views men. And the film just trails off leaving us wondering what life will now be like.

Adams has a fine handle on her subject and creates dialog that feels like it should: her election to make such a fine three-dimensional character out of Lucy's father who barely has a line to say is much to her credit (and the strong performance by Scott Wilson!). But in the end it is the pleasure of seeing Ashley Judd in a meaty role that makes the difference. Grady Harp