Heart of the Country

Not sure what was the thought process in making this film, not one character made any logical choices. I though the acting wasn't horrible, the story was laughable. It was insufferable and seemed like an hour long music video, with dialog wrapped inside a terrible idea. No thanks please just no.

The wife must always support her man message made me want to line up the writer and director and ask them "What were you trying to prove?*. Right and wrong get lost in the movie and although the actors (especially Rainey) were quite good, the story sucked. Do NOT recommend this mess to any. Do not waste your time or tears.

The good guys lose and the mediocre underdeveloped bad ones win.

Lots of not so subtle Christian values, pleasant film. This is a independent film marketed to be a family film with it's message of Christian values hitting the watcher with a sledge hammer of Christian values. Some people of other religions or agnostics might find the movie hard to handle. Well produced, well acted but a little to sugary sweet in its story line. I wouldn't pay to watch it in a movie theatre but worth a watch if you have nothing better to do, only rates a TV movie of the week.Surprising prejudice against the North, the south lost the civil war; get over it, its called the USA. They should not be calling the car a Yankee car. This is a not so subtle slap against Americans from Michigan.

Heart of the Country is one of these faith based films which tries to keep its Christian message subtle but it is there to see; an America that exists only in a film producer's, preacher or a Republican politician's mind.

Faith (Jana Kramer) left her family in a small town in North Carolina for New York and ended up marrying to a wealthy socialite who worked in Wall Street. She has lived the high life but her husband has been busted for fraud and Faith returns home.

It becomes clear that Faith has been distant with her dad (Gerald McRaney) and her sister but the film does not spell it out. I was not even sure if they have ever met Faith's husband.

When Faith's dad gets cancer, she tries to get her husband to arrange a top New York doctor to see him. Faith's father meanwhile wants her to fight to save his marriage and goes to see his son in law to find out whether he still wants to be with Faith.

The film has positive messages about marriage, forgiveness and redemption. It is just too sanitized and happy clappy for my liking. We are not made clear what Faith's issues were with her family but they would had good reason to be upset by the way they were treated by Faith who seems to have forgotten all about them until trouble came knocking on the door.

I would call this Jana Kramer's 2nd best film since "Approaching Midnight". Jana in this one stars as Faith, in a story based on the prodigal son returning home (however this is the prodigal daughter). Approaching Midnight takes better advantage of her acting chops and it was theatrical while this picture was a direct to video piece. I heard that this was a vehicle to promote Jana's music but I was hoping for more of her tracks to be played throughout the movie in subtle ways. I would watch this movie again on DVD however because of Jerry McRaney a great actor with a solid part that was given to him. The locations are pretty solid for this movie too. I enjoyed seeing the south on camera. I think more films should be filming in the south and Heart of the Country takes advantage of some great locations.