Tenessee Reviews

More Tennessee Reviews...as it's finally showing in [limited] theaters Friday (June 5th)


Near-subtle Mariah Carey shines in 'Tennessee'

http://www.knoxville.com/news/2009/jun/02/near-subtle-mariah-carey-shi nes-tennessee/?partner=RSS


EW.com gave Tennessee a B-...

http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20282754,00.html

This modest, melancholic road-movie drama concerns two brothers (Adam Rothenberg and Ethan Peck) who travel from New Mexico to Tennessee in search of their violent father. Why? Because Peck's character has developed leukemia and needs a bone marrow transplant. Tennessee veers dangerously close to made-for-TV territory. But you utterly believe the bond between the siblings, and Rothenberg excels in his role of a protective older bro who also happens to be a haunted binge drinker. Mariah Carey is perfectly fine playing a waitress who dreams of becoming, yes, a singer — even if the superstar's presence in such a small venture seems jarring. B-


Tennessee

Rated R | CP Grade: C

http://www.citypaper.net/movies/movie.php/id/64344/[/b]

Mariah Carey isn't the star of Aaron Woodley's film. In fact, she's only on screen for maybe a third of its running time, and a few minutes of that is spent singing, a sentimental number that rather reductively defines her character, Krystal, a diner waitress and aspiring artist seeking escape from her abusive state trooper husband (Lance Reddick). Even up against such odds, Carey remains the movie's most compelling figure, her performance nuanced and generous. The ostensible focus is the story of two brothers, Carter (Adam Rothenberg) and Ellis (Ethan Peck), coming to terms with the legacy of their own abusive father (Bill Sage), as well as their own resentments and losses. Impelled by a medical emergency (Ellis has cancer and they hope dad will be a bone marrow match), the boys are headed back to Tennessee after many years away when they meet Krystal; the ensuing road trip features predictable confrontations, flashbacks and revelations, as the brothers bicker and bond, finding themselves as they sift through pieces of their past. The light is perpetually filtered, the tones golden, and even the most run-down settings are also, somehow, gorgeous. Amid the banality, however heartfelt, Carey is a welcome surprise. -Cindy Fuchs


http://www.ifc.com/news/2009/06/four-women.php

It's unlikely that Mariah Carey will be weighed down with trophies for her role in the soggy redemption movie "Tennessee," which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival last year, but her solid acting, as a diner waitress in Texas who flees an abusive cop-husband and hits the road with two brothers, is definitely part of the Rehabilitation of Mimi. "The whole 'Glitter' experience was very, very hard to go through," Carey says in "Tennessee"'s press notes, referring to her critically drubbed, semi-autobiographical 2001 movie; nothing spurs a diva on more than proving people wrong. MC's Lone Star twang is consistent, and when she disappears from the action, staying behind in Nashville while the brothers board a Knoxville-bound Greyhound, you wish she'd come back, with her cornrows, kerchiefs and acoustic guitar, to save us from the siblings working out their still-simmering family trauma. Perhaps all Carey needed to regain onscreen confidence was the unwavering support of "Tennessee" producer Lee Daniels; judging from the amazing performance the singer gives in the upcoming "Precious," which Daniels directed, it's clear he's her charm bracelet.



More Tennesee Reviews (mostly nice reviews on Mariah Carey's acting)...


http://movies.nytimes.com/2009/06/05/movies/05tenn.html

http://www.macon.com/240/story/737346.html

http://www.hollywood.com/review/Tennessee/5648777

http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/movies/ny-ettenn0512814412jun03,0 ,5058993.story

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/ent/movies/reviews/stories /DN-tennessee_0605gd.State.Edition1.2fae76f.html

http://www.calendarlive.com/movies/reviews/cl-et-capsules5-2008dec05,0 ,4186366.story

http://www.gomemphis.com/news/2009/jun/04/indie-tennessee-road-trip-fa ils-to-find-route-to/



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