Take Me Home: The John Denver Story

Chad Lowe is simply awful. The lip synching he does for the songs is almost funny. He has never been a very effective actor but this performance wouldn't even get noticed in a high school competition. One has to wonder how he got this gig.

The other actors and actresses in the movie do a good job but no one stands out. The worst part about Chad Lowe's performance is that it is so bad that it overshadows the effort of every other performer.

The story of John Denver is a compelling and interesting one. Unfortunately, this movie does almost nothing to capitalize on it. Chad Lowe seems like he is lampooning John Denver on Saturday Night Live. It would be funny if he weren't trying to be serious.

While the movie touched on some very basic parts of John Denver's life as listed in his autobiography, it seemed to be more about Annie Denver than about John. The actor portraying John Denver made him look simple-minded and shallow - NOT the personality I've observed for two decades at concerts and at televised interviews!

In a word, shallow.

Or how about, "a really good idea with a lot of potential"? Knowing what I do about John Denver's life I would have much rather seen a PBS documentary on him than this program - after which I wondered how much of what I had seen was real or just artistic license.

The elements were there, I suppose, but they weren't very fully developed. And since I like Denver's music I wanted to watch the show, but if I wasn't a fan I don't think there would have been much in there to keep me watching.

Perhaps a mini-series would have given the needed time to develop some elements a bit more. Or maybe it would have been just as shallow, but longer; I don't know.

Maybe I just ought to read his book instead.

After both reading and listening to John's autobiography in his own words, it's pretty clear that much of the movie is inaccurate to say the least and seemed to take on the counter story of Annie Denver. Many details were different from the book and many things left out. John was made to look 'goofy' which is not ever, at any time, the way I've ever perceived him to be. I grew up with John...I listened to his music and the words that he spoke; truth being, he was a deep, thoughtful individual who at his worst was just human. I believe too that he did accept responsibility for his own screw-ups...although that part was more closely relayed in this movie than other issues. I would love to see someone really come along a do a great mini-series on John. After all, how can you sum up this wonderful person in just a couple of hours. I have to say that I still miss him and think he was taken way too soon; and for those people who didn't care or understand who John was, all I can say is this movie isn't going to help much. Most of all, I'm sorry that you missed out on such a great person who has done more than any one person I know personally.

My father was John Denver's photographer, and spent over 20 years travelling around the world with him. When he saw this, he called everyone he knew and was saying, "hey, did you see 'The Hal Thau Story'?" He then must have told me about 20-something anachronisms that occured in this film. I cracked up myself at the total lameness of John Denver's character talking in a voice that didn't even sound like him, and then lip-synching to crappy old recordings. It could have been good, but the director obviously had no idea who John Denver was as a person.