Rating: 
Summary: It made me laugh, it made me cry...
Review: I postponed seeing this film in the theatre because the DVD can be purchased for the price of two movie tickets. I usually triage films I eventually watch -- some I must see on the big screen, some I rent, and some I buy on blind faith and film reviews. This film fell into the last category. The critics wrote very favorable comments about Janet MeTeer's performance, and of course she won a Golden Globe, so I wasn't taking too much of a risk, and I was not disappointed in my decision. Janet McTeer plays a dislocated single mom named Mary Jo Walker. She is so real I swear I knew her back in North Carolina. Her daughter Ava, played by Kimberly J. Brown looks like a real child and has a real child's problems. I couldn't gauge the time period of the film but the bathing suits were right out of the late fifties or early sixties (they weighed a ton when you got them wet). Ava's English teacher uses the phrase "dissed" which seems out of place to me as I don't remember that term being used before the seventies. Depending on the period, things were better or worse for single moms and their offspring although California was the place to be until very recently if you wanted to survive (too expensive now! ). There was a time when the only way a female could deal with an unhappy home life was to "get married" and run away, and then "get married" and run away, etc. and the first thing you knew you woke up one morning and found you had been married 3 or 4 times, were unemployed, and still waiting for the knight in shining armor who never seemed to show up. I know what it feels like to run away from an abusive parent at age 17, dropping out of high-school and marrying the first guy who asked. Heck, I went straight from North Carolina to California. If you've misjudged--and most do--you end up bouncing along from one pillar to another post waiting for something to work out. This film reveals how misjudgments happen. Women who make bad choices aren't bad -- just hurt, scared, and uninformed about other, better choices. My single mom friends and I survived by befriending each other, and showing each other how to "rise above" problems. This wonderful film celebrates that triump.
Rating: 
Summary: Unremarkable film of mother-daughter bonding
Review: I suppose this is the sort of film that mothers and daughters love but that leaves men cold. I wasn't impressed by McTeer's Oscar nominated performance nor with the film itself. I found it derivative and pointless. I guess you had to have been there.
Rating: 
Summary: I should know...
Review: I'm sorry but I despise this. It's nothing above standard idiocy/chick flick mentality. I was one of the first people to see this too, as I was at a screening at Sundance '99. Let me tell ya, there's something wrong with the intolerant screw-ups who like this.
Rating:
Summary: Superb Director's Audiocommentary
Review: If you are at all interested in filmmaking, independent or otherwise, I strongly suggest you get this DVD and listen to director Gavin O'Connor's commentary track. Oh, and the film is great, too.
Rating:
Summary: On the road again
Review: Imagine living life without a home. Moving from one state to another, Ava Walker, along with her mother, Mary Jo, had no real home. Louisiana, West Virginia, Tennessee and many more states were all stops along the way for this mother-daughter duo. Mary Jo had a problem with the way she was treated by men. Instead of being mature after a breakup occurred, she would flee and set out on yet another adventure. Their real journey began after Mary Jo's fourth failed marriage. Repeating their pattern, they picked up their belongings and set out for a new state and a new life. Living their lives as tumbleweeds on an empty highway, Mary Jo and Ava Walker wandered aimlessly looking for the perfect life. Throughout their search for a permanent home, these two women shared a special bond consisting of highs and lows. Recognized by critics as a top film, Tumbleweeds proves to be one of the best films explaining the relationship of a mother and a daughter because of its realistic approach which shows both sides of the relationship and by following the range of emotions that occur between a mother and her daughter. Although this film was independently funded it still acclaimed praise by critics everywhere. It was recognized as a work of art by being nominated by such organizations as the Academy, the Golden Globes, the Chicago Film Critics, the Ft. Lauderdale International Film Committee and the Screen Actor's Guild. These days, it is not often that a film created with under $100,000 would be so critically acclaimed by such distinguished organizations. Along with being recognized as a masterpiece, Tumbleweeds has succeeded because of the film's realism. Movies today often glamorize relationships, making everything seem flawless instead of portraying the truth. Having a mother of my own, I appreciate the honesty of these two characters. Mary Jo and Ava are best friends and they know they will always have each other. However, like all mother-daughter relationships, they have their problems. Ava does not appreciate being dragged around the country because of her mother's problems with men. Similar to real life, the daughter has little control and must obey her mother. This realism allows the viewer to correlate the written story to his or her own life. In addition to portraying mother-daughter relationships as less than perfect, Tumbleweeds also shows both a smooth and rocky part of a relationship. In real life, every relationship has its ups and downs. In this movie, the ups and downs are very clear. These women share many happy times together where laughter and smiles come easy. However, they also have their sad moments where they can not help but cry. They love each other, but at times, they believe they hate each other. They rely on each other, but also need to be independent. The emotions in relationships are never strictly cheerful. In reality, the feelings in relationships are subject to change. In this movie, Ava and Mary Jo have a range of emotions which further adds to the realism. While traveling to their new home, both mother and daughter began to sing a song. "Que Sera, Sera. What ever will be, will be. The future's not ours to see. Que Sera, Sera." The song seemed to be the theme in their life. Whatever was to happen was to happen and they would be able to deal with it...as long as they had each other. Through realistic means, I believe this point was made clear. By the end of the film the audience is aware of the fact that all relationships, especially mother-daughter ones, are a roller coaster ride of emotions. Tumbleweeds is one of the few films I have seen that correctly portrays mother-daughter relationships.
Rating: 
Summary: hackneyed drama buoyed by dynamite performances
Review: In `Tumbleweeds' we're back on the road again with yet another single mother and her disgruntled offspring as they search for love and stability in places unknown and settings unfamiliar. Following in the footsteps of `Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore,' `Mermaids,' `This Boy's Life' and countless other films of that ilk, `Tumbleweeds' rarely strays from the tried-and-true narrative formula of the genre, yet thanks to two superb performances by its lead actresses and a quality of naturalism in its writing and directing, the film manages to be at least perpetually watchable if not exactly compelling. The film starts off with a harrowing scene of domestic violence that neatly defines the tenor of Mary Jo Walker's life and character. Fatally attracted to abusive losers, Mary Jo decides to pick up and leave her current no-good boyfriend and head out with her daughter, Ava, to erase the past and start life afresh. We discover that this is indeed the pattern of her life and her daughter, driven into rootlessness as a result, seethes with a resentment that flairs up periodically in outbursts of rage and anger. Finally settling on San Diego as their new Eden, the two wayfarers attempt to settle in and begin a new life for themselves. However, lifelong patterns die hard and Mary Jo is soon shacking up with yet another time bomb in the form of a trucker she has met earlier on the road, much as the ever-wise Ava predicted. Waiting in the wings, of course, is the one man who could truly make Mary Jo happy - the paragon of male sensitivity who works right there in the office with her - if only she could see past the sexual energy of the brutish scum that so invariably attract her. `Tumbleweeds' pretty much does what it can, saddled as it is with such a derivative concept. The feeling of déjà vu generated by the predictability of the proceedings is alleviated somewhat by the shattering performances of Janet McTeer and Kimberley J. Brown who never hit a false note in their portrayals of two well-meaning souls struggling with a less-than-ideal situation and life. They are matched by Jay O. Sanders, as Mary Jo's newest love interest, who brings a subtlety to a role that could easily have slid into two-dimensional villainy. Instead, Sanders keeps his character's violent tendencies seething just beneath the surface, flaring out only at key moments. Yet, somehow, even at such times, he manages to maintain a certain strange quality of understandable sympathy; we sense he is a man who strikes out more from petulance and frustration than cruelty and malice. Either way, he is a much more interesting character than the bland, sappy dolt that she - again, true to the formula - ultimately ends up with. Screenwriter Angela Shelton and co-writer/director Gavin O'Connor display a nice ear for naturalistic dialogue and O'Connor allows his actors to establish just the proper rhythm to make their interactions believable and real. Far more than anything else, this is definitely an actor's film. This is why the upbeat ending of the film, where all the loose ends are tied together at a middle school production of `Romeo and Juliet,' (in which Ava naturally has a starring role!), is such a disappointment, completely betraying, as it does, the realistic tenor of much of the rest of the film. In a similar vein, the film also suffers from an over abundance of coincidental meetings that likewise undercut the film's crucial quality of credibility. Particularly mind boggling is the reunion Mary Jo has in a bar in San Diego with a hunky truck driver she met on a highway in Kentucky. Small world indeed! `Tumbleweeds' stands in the shadows of some pretty impressive earlier films and, as a result, it never becomes of more than passing interest. Yet, for the performances of the two tumbleweeds at its core as well as several other elements of quality, this is a film that deserves some attention.
Rating:
Summary: the best performance of Mcteer's career
Review: Janet Mcteer gives a tour de force performance as Mary Jo in this heartbreaking and heartwarming movie about a mom and daughter torn apart and brought back together. Janet Mcteer won the golden globe award for best actress, the national board of review award for best actress and recieved a screen actor guild nomination for best actress. SHE ALSO RECIEVED A NOMINATION FOR BEST ACTRESS OF 1999 FOR AN ACADEMY AWARD. BUY OR RENT THIS MOVIE TODAY TO SEE A REAL ACTRESS AT HER BEST!...
Rating:
Summary: One of the BEST movies EVER! BRAVO!
Review: Mark with Amazon could not have been more accurate in his review. This is superb movie making that is simply heart-achingly true in substance. The characters remind me so much of my Mother and I that it is painful to watch yet somehow a tribute as well. This is a movie for any mother and daughter to watch together. Especially if you've had some difficulties in your relationship. The portrayal of these characters is extremely believable and you can't help but hope that the Mother gets her act together and eventually ends up with the very nice 'Dan' character. A great watch!
Rating:
Summary: On second thought ...
Review: Not a bad movie--Janet McTeer is awesome--but her daughter's character was SO incredibly annoying I couldn't watch the entire movie in one sitting. Keep that in mind ...
Rating:
Summary: On second thought ...
Review: Not a bad movie--Janet McTeer is awesome--but her daughter's character was SO incredibly annoying I couldn't watch the entire movie in one sitting. Keep that in mind ...
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