winner55 This is in many ways a fascinating movie. It is certainly entertaining and moves quite well, and everybody puts their best into it. (The "making of" featurette on the DVD is a wonderful look into the making of a higher budgeted 'indie' movie by the way.) But there is one serious flaw to the film, and that is Renée Zellweger's performance. Whenever the character undergoes pressure, she gets all wobbly and quirky, like a character actor playing a supporting role - but she's not only the lead, she's what the picture is all about, so this is definitely a flaw that threatens to derail the whole project.Fortunately, it doesn't. First, of course, everyone else in the picture submits wonderful performances. Logan Lerman is a marvelous young actor who strikes chemistry with practically everyone he interacts with. And the film is really beautiful to look at, and filled with pleasantly eccentric characters, in situations highly evocative of the era in which they occur, the 1950s.Secondly, part of the problem with Zellweger's performance may have to do with the character herself. Although she fancies herself a Deep-South Southern Belle, deserving of the better things in life, once we meet her sister we realize that she really comes from the mid-South commercial class, and that her attitude of entitlement is a self-delusion. She is thus out of touch with her own life, and in need of review of her identity. On the other hand, her desperate search for a husband to support her has a realistic edge - the '50's America was not kind to single moms. The question thus becomes whether the inner struggles involved in her effort to survive repeated crises is well presented. I'm not sure it is, but not from want of trying on Ms. Zellweger's part. It may be that the core of the character is really hard to define.Otherwise, I have no trouble recommending this often amusing, insightful glimpse into a complex family during an era of change. It may have no more weight than an old family snapshot of the era, but it is as telling and well-developed a snapshot as one could wish.

pastanley The story idea of this movie wasn't bad but the execution was poor.Renee Zellweger seemed stiff and her character was an irritation. She flounced around from scene to scene in a daze.Kevin Bacon on the other hand turned in a reasonable performance but was in too few scenes. Logan Lerman did a good job as one of the sons, however I doubt that the other son, in the 1950s, would actually have acted as he did in this film. The second son's character was over the top and ridiculous. I didn't enjoy the movie because it seemed to have no point to it. The conflict appeared contrived.

TxMike It is New York in the spring of 1953. Renée Zellweger as Anne Deveraux comes home to find her husband in his underwear and a young tart in the bed. She huffs off, pulls her two sons out of school, and leaves town. And thus begins the fateful summer that is this story.Kevin Bacon is her philandering husband, Dan Devereaux, musician and band director, the type of band that plays in clubs in the 1950s, with a cute young female singer at the front. Dan is a boy inside that looks like a grown man.One of the sons is Logan Lerman as George Devereaux. In a sense he is the narrator of the story. As he tells the audience, it all begins when he shows up at a Cadillac dealership with a wad of money to buy a car. The salesmen are flabbergasted, but it all makes sense when his mother shows up. They needed a new car to leave town.Anne is one of those elegant 1950s women who doesn't think she should work, and therefore her road trip becomes one to find a suitable husband, one who can support her. The summer is filled with surprises, and that is what makes this movie so interesting, we never quite know what the next surprise is.Really good, interesting movie, one of the better ones I have seen lately.SPOILERS: Anne and the two sons end up in Los Angeles and, to make ends meet become extras in movie production. The "other" son gets a chance at acting but when George returns from his father's funeral, begins to show his brother how to read the lines in a more believable manner. He is noticed, and he gets the part, while the brother gets into costume design, what he really wants to do anyway. And, George decides to use his father's real last name, Hamilton. This is based on the real George Hamilton.

hanna66 How many stories like this have we seen so far: mother (Renee Zelweger) finds out that her husband (Kevin Bacon) is cheating on her and leaves him. Obviously, the children go with her. She thinks she will be able to go to another town nearby and find herself a new husband, wealthy enough to sustain the family. Travelling from city to city, and as many things happen to them, she cannot find anyone to 'sign the deal.' The further away they go from NY, the more the mother learns about her family and herself.Very conventional, this is a road film where the family is moving from one coast to the other (NY to LA). The story is being told from the point of view of the youngest son. As the narrator, he tells us what he thinks about his mother, family relations, the trip, etc.A good family/drama movie. But only good.5/10*.