Apparently Men in the South are all dim-witted dolts with one-syllable names. 'Nuff said.
shareWell, not all of them. I grew up there and I can vouch for that. Some are named Billy, Bobby, Bubba and Peanut. They lived up the road from my house. Oh, and Little Peanut (Peanut's boy).
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Oh honey it's not just the media, it's common knowledge. Men are dim-witted dolts and women can't drive. LOL I'm only kidding. ;)
shareSouthern men are strong and galant. They are always standing by their women. This movie is in praise of strong Southern women. The men are not weak, they have difficulty dealing with the changes of illness and death. It is the women who are strong at such difficult times.
Actually, I went in assuming it would be about strong, intelligent women, and any man in the film would be portrayed as a scumbug (likely cheating on his wife). I think it turned out quite differently (although the men are obviously one-dimensional since the film focuses on the women). Drum seems typical to me. Spud is neglectful and useless (the kind I was expecting). Jackson is a successful lawyer who is not shown to be neglectful in any way (no way you could call that a dim-witted dolt).
shareI really wish that more character was given to the men to make them more than either jokesters (Drum), neglectful (Spud), arrogant and trashy (Louie), or immature (M'Lynn's two sons). Jackson seems not to take anything seriously, while Owen is the epitome of the cute old coot added in for comic relief. I would have liked to have seen one or two lines for Drum and the two sons to express their grief verbally rather than just looking down sadly and giving mom a hug, then walking away. After all, one of the sons was based upon the writer, and I'm sure he did more than just help dad get the birds out of the tree, shoot hoops in the house, put condoms on the groom's car and make wisecracks while playing a word game. At least during that time, Drum was given the opportunity to show his anger about the whole situation. If I was one of the brothers, I would have at least said something to my mother of hope, that I'd always be there for her, and that our grief together would help relieve it in time. Sure, the focus is on the friendships of the women and it's not a Horton Foote play, but after many viewings, I just can't help but notice little details that might have added a nice touch to it that would have developed the male characters past how they were presented. I saw the play on Broadway which was all women anyway, so some of the characterizations feel rushed to just get the movie out for the holidays.
"Great theater makes you smile. Outstanding theater may make you weep."
That's right and we wouldn't have them any other way.
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