Une ode américaine

Well I had a great review written but it was erased when I switched to another site to fact check some other movies. What I wanted to say was this is a hard movie to watch. It's hard bc it's honest. We all have our struggles and this is another depiction of an honest struggle families have. In America we like to place labels. In this case the labels are hillbilly, red neck, or white trash. It's all true, but it doesn't mean that's bad. It means it's honest. It makes me think of other honest movies about American families like Crooklyn, Ordinary People or Kramer vs Kramer. In this year of 2020 the word struggle comes up time and again, but let's not forget another truly American symbolic word .... perseverance. Watch this movie and know that if you're down and feel like the world is against you just keep fighting and persevere. I hope this movie can inspire that feeling. It did for me.

I enjoyed the movie very much. As a Black American, I know the struggles of my culture, so to see the trials and tribulations of another culture is eye opening.

Ron Howard is an A-list Director and doesn't produce anything that is subpar. The critic reviews and low ratings for this movie are puzzling. Yet I'm seen high ratings for movies to me that weren't so great.

The movie is good, don't believe the critics.

Don't know why there are such low scores and reviews, it was a very engaging movie, and the acting all round was top notch.

Trying to figure out why the critics' score is so different from the user score and all I can think is because the former is detached from the reality of rural white poverty. Living and teaching in an area similar to where J.D. comes from, I see his struggle of trying to escape poverty through education and the impact of drug abuse on communities on a regular basis. It's easy to dismiss this as "Oscar bait" and it definitely is...but it's also a movie, though really difficult to watch at points, that tells the uncomfortable reality for far too many.

Like other reviewers here, I'm puzzled as to why this film received such poor or lukewarm reception in the press. Glenn Close is superb as Mamaw. Those who think she is somehow an exaggerated caricature clearly don't have much first-hand knowledge of this segment of our population. I never knew Mamaw but I certainly knew plenty of people like her, and Close's portrayal is spot-on. Don't be put off by the bad reviews. This is a powerful and moving film.