Having just premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival, Tennessee is an enjoyable little movie from producer Lee Daniels (Monster's Ball). It stars Adam Rothenberg, Ethan Peck (Gregory's grandson) and pop diva extraordinaire Mariah Carey. The story is a road trip of self discovery taken by two adult brothers.

When younger brother Ellis (Peck) is diagnosed with leukemia and older sibling Carter (Rothenberg) turns out to be a bad match as a bone marrow donor, the brothers set out from their home in New Mexico to return to Tennessee where they hope to locate their estranged father and persuade him to act as donor. In the movies' opening scene, set in 1993, we are shown the abusive relationship between the boys' parents and how they escaped with their mother from their father's violence and started a new life several states away. In the intervening years their mother died and the brothers had no contact with their father.

Somewhere in Texas the brothers are befriended by Krystal Evans, a waitress/aspiring country singer (Carey) in an abusive relationship of her own. She throws fate to the winds and joins the brothers on their trek. These three lost souls find strength in each others companionship as they are being pursued across state lines by Krystal's police officer husband. Part road-movie, part coming-of-age drama with some humor thrown in, Tennessee moves along briskly and features appealing performances by its three stars.

Adam Rothenberg gives the best performance as the older alcoholic brother bitter at life and what he feels he's been cheated out of. He reminded me quite a bit of Heath Ledger's Ennis Del Mar from Brokeback Mountain, speaking infrequently and holding in his emotions. Ethan Peck does a good job in a slightly less showy role. The main thing his part called for was the ability to act convincingly sick. As for Mariah she definitely underplays Krystal. She pulls off a believable southern accent and manages something that she is not known for as a singer and that is subtlety. Not until she sings in a Nashville honky-tonk near the end does MARIAH the star peek out.

The denouement features a dramatic twist that is fairly easy to spot and the emotional impact is not quite as great as director Aaron Woodley was clearly trying to achieve. But then this is only his second feature film. I was thoroughly entertained by Tennessee and wholeheartedly recommend it.

↑Back to Top↑