Take Me Home: The John Denver Story

I like John Denver's music and, ultimately, that was the only thing I liked about this film. Chad Lowe, though a fine actor, I thought was miscast. Not once in the entire film could I "suspend disbelief" and buy him as Denver, especially in John's later years when his 2 older children were teens/young adults and John was 50-ish. Lowe looked even younger than his own 32 years; never mind portraying the 50-ish father of 2 teenagers!

I also found the writing/dialogue to be stale and cliched and scenes/events oftentimes rushed, packing zero emotion. It was more like watching actors do re-enactments on those biography shows than a film.

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.

Based on a book, this is a very sweet movie that explores the private lives of "John Denver" Chad Lowe[brother of Rob Lowe] (Now and Again) and his wife "Annie Denver" Kristin Davis (Sex and the City). There were many things about John Denver which were emphasized in this movie. The first was that his father (an military pilot) never gave John any positive enforcement about his career in music. He wanted his son to join the military like dad did. That is how I explain his fascination with flying. It wasn't until Denver took his father for a ride in his airplane that the father finally gave him compliments and they were able to talk about the father's lack of encouragement of Denver's career. The father did not even like the fact that John adopted the stage name Denver, after the city in beautiful Colorado. The second was that John Denver was an extremely talented composer and singer, but he did not get the recognition that he deserved because his music was not mainstream and the only big record label that would sign a contract with him was RCA. The third was that the Denver's were unable to have children and adopted two kids; one was African American. This was all very good and interesting. I believe that the ratings were probably low because people tend to assume that all movies made for television are bad. Which is absolutely not true.There were some songs that we did even realize John Denver composed. Unfortunately he was more famous and much more admired abroad than he was in the U.S., and that frustrated him a lot. Favorite Scenes: Denver proposing and proposing to his wife. He drove hours just to ask her out. Favorite Quote: Denver:"far out."

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!

I enjoyed this movie, but once again, history and chronology were ignored. Example - if you believe this movie, the song Calypso came out after the movie 'Oh God!' Actually, Calypso was a hit in the fall of 1975, 'Oh God!' was released in 1977. If you believe this movie, Annie's Song, a top ten hit from 1974 came out post 1976.

The movie also skips from 1972 straight to 1976 which omits John Denver 's peak years as a performer and hit maker.

Why don't these TV Movie makers do any real research? Because they need to get the movie out first, accuracy is secondary.

Unfortunately, TV movies are now no different than tabloid magazines.

Worth watching but don't rely on it for chronological accuracy