Opening

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—— A Green Story
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—— After Earth May 31
—— Now You See Me May 31
100% The Kings of Summer May 31
89% The East May 31

Junebug (2005)

tomatometer

86

Average Rating: 7.5/10
Reviews Counted: 127
Fresh: 109 | Rotten: 18

Aided and abetted by a wonderful cast, director Phil Morrison transforms familiar material into an understated and resonant comedy.

94

Average Rating: 7.7/10
Critic Reviews: 34
Fresh: 32 | Rotten: 2

Aided and abetted by a wonderful cast, director Phil Morrison transforms familiar material into an understated and resonant comedy.

audience

70

liked it
Average Rating: 3.4/5
User Ratings: 45,971

My Rating

Movie Info

Phil Morrison, who collaborated with screenwriter Angus MacLachlan for his acclaimed 1990 short, Tater Tomater, joins forces with MacLachlan again for his feature-film debut, Junebug. Junebug takes place in rural North Carolina. Madeleine (Embeth Davidtz), a sophisticated Chicagoan who owns a gallery devoted to "outsider art," goes south in an effort to woo an eccentric painter (Frank Hoyt Taylor) to her gallery. She brings along her husband, George (Alessandro Nivola), a native of the area, and

R,

Drama, Art House & International, Comedy

Angus MacLachlan

Jan 17, 2006

$2.4M

Sony Pictures Classics - Official Site External Icon

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Cast

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All Critics (139) | Top Critics (37) | Fresh (117) | Rotten (20) | DVD (19)

...one of many reasons to love Junebug is how often it offers us spaces to fill in ourselves, the faith it shows in handing us small puzzles -- Eugene's hand-carved bird, for instance -- to chuckle over or think on afterward.

November 30, 2007 Full Review Source: Film.com
Film.com
Top Critic IconTop Critic

A quiet journey into the heartland, and the heart.

September 23, 2005 Full Review Source: Toronto Star
Toronto Star
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Thanks to Adams' performance and strong story, it makes for a mildly entertaining Southern-fried experience.

September 22, 2005 Full Review Source: Arizona Republic
Arizona Republic
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The adult tensions and the tone take us to a place remembered so vividly that even if we don't know this corner of the South, we've somehow lived there or at least passed through.

September 2, 2005 Full Review Source: Orlando Sentinel
Orlando Sentinel
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Brimming with bright dialogue, complex characters and moments of sheer aching sweetness, it's Chekhov with a side of red-eye gravy.

August 28, 2005 Full Review Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Top Critic IconTop Critic

This brilliantly detailed, richly painted portrait lingers long in the memory.

August 26, 2005
Philadelphia Inquirer
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Morrison and MacLachlan mine the clash of cultures for comedy, but there's an undertow of sadness to their film - and Adams's touching performance as George's naïve but well-meaning, heavily pregnant sister-in-law captures this perfectly

April 26, 2011 Full Review Source: Movie Talk
Movie Talk

At every moment when "Junebug" could choose dramatic cliché, even with Ashley's pregnancy, it's beautifully subtle. A poetic, graceful tale about the comforts and oddities of returning home to family.

September 23, 2010 Full Review Source: Suite101.com
Suite101.com

The humor here is expectedly quirky but it feels earned thanks to writer MacLachlan and director Morrison's honestly rendered observations of family and small-town life

August 17, 2010 Full Review Source: Cinema Writer
Cinema Writer

Junebug annoyed me while in the theater, and annoys me even more as I write about it.

September 26, 2009 Full Review Source: Film and Felt | Comments (3)
Film and Felt

Amy Adams is simply magical, guileless and throbbing, sunniness fraught with desperation

September 1, 2009 Full Review Source: CinePassion
CinePassion

Odd, insightful movie that's best for mature teens and up.

July 24, 2008 Full Review Source: Common Sense Media
Common Sense Media

the retiring director with the handlebar moustache offers no interview, preferring his actors to speak for him and his film to speak for itself.

September 30, 2007 Full Review Source: Film4
Film4

From dinner-table silences, to nuances of Baptist vocabulary, to 'colorful' displays of Southern imagination, these people are three-dimensional and compelling.

September 12, 2007
Looking Closer

To get a good idea of what to expect, think Hee Haw presented as a Shakespearean melodrama.

May 28, 2007 Full Review Source: Upstage Magazine
Upstage Magazine

To get a good idea of what to expect, think Hee Haw presented as a Shakespearean melodrama.

May 28, 2007 Full Review Source: Upstage Magazine
Upstage Magazine

Not since...My Cousin Vinny has there been a more charming class-clash comedy-drama than Junebug.

March 1, 2007 Full Review Source: Film Journal International
Film Journal International

click to read review [Greek]

September 10, 2006 Full Review Source: Movies for the Masses
Movies for the Masses

Audience Reviews for Junebug

Fish out of water tale has college edujumakated art gallery manager goin ta meet up wit hubby's "at least we ain't got no fancy airs") downhome family ... and it's no bed of roses, that's for sure. And the unpleasantness happens just as our world traveller is trying to woo the South in the form of a blossoming curmudgeony outsider artist. Social observations via light (very light) comedy.
July 11, 2012
UniversalDreamer

Super Reviewer

If The Station Agent is a good example of how to make a good indie movie out of typical indie movie subject matter, then this is an example of trying way too hard, and despite the best of efforts, not quite making it.

An art gallery owner who specializes in outsider art named Madeleine gets into a whirlwind marriage with a guy named George who has successfully managed to mask his North Carolina upbringing. While on a trip to North Carolina to woo a promising artist, Madeleine also gets the chance to meet her new in-laws and, needless to say, it's a real fish out of water sort of thing. George's dad is mostly silent and withdrawn, his mom is really skeptical and disapproving, his borther is surly and quick to anger, and the only one who really seems to be welcoming is George's very pregnant sister-in-law Ashley who is overwhelmingly excitable, talkative, enthusiastic, and naive. She also might seriously need some Ritalin, too.

The set up is basically a quirky version of Meet The Parents, and, for the most part, I did enjoy it. However, the film is really prone to thigns that bug me about indies: jarring transitions with lots of silence and a camera that lingers on too long, character changes that come jsut for the sake of story that seem a little too forced, and that feeling of not so subtle "look at me, I'm not a mainstream film!" that comes up A LOT. The film does have lots of plot threads that are left untied at the end, but that was something I actually liked.

I wasn't bored to tears, but I was kinda bored because I could see where this was going, and was pretty accurate in my guessings. Sometimes that's okay, but with this film it just rubbed me the wrong way a little too much. The performances are at least really good, especially from Amy Adams who really steals the show as Ashley. I felt that Nivola was miscast as George, and it also bugged me that his character was not really there to do a whole lot, and he really didn't weigh in as much with his wife's situation as he should have, but at least it wasn't handled worse than it is.

All in all, this is okay, but not as special as it thinks it is. A lot of this is forced, pretentious, and didn't grab me like it should have. Like I said though, the performances are what ultyimately holds it together.
January 4, 2012
cosmo313
Chris Weber

Super Reviewer

    1. George: If I was a Philips screwdriver, where would I be?
    – Submitted by Frances H (4 months ago)
    1. Ashley: God loves you just the way you are, but he loves you too much to let you stay that way.
    – Submitted by Frances H (4 months ago)
    1. Ashley: What's your favorite animal? Mine's the meerkat.
    – Submitted by Gayle U (6 months ago)
    1. Madeleine: I was born in Japan.
    2. Ashley: You were not!
    – Submitted by Alyssa B (20 months ago)

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Latest News on Junebug

February 10, 2012:
Paul Giamatti, Paul Rudd, and Sally Hawkins Have a Lucky Dog
They'll star in a new comedy from director Phil Morrison ("Junebug").

February 6, 2008:
Amy Adams Spending A Night at the Museum with Ben Stiller
Critics have loved Amy Adams since her Junebug days, but now that she's charmed audiences on a...

May 16, 2006:
"Underdog" Woos the "Junebug" Gal
Amy Adams, the doe-eyed doll who dazzled literally everyone with her "Junebug"...

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