Adriana Trigiani is in love with her home town of Big Stone Gap, with good reason. The scenery is gorgeous. Everything else about this movie is just - meh. The book on which the movie was based was pretty lightweight, the sort of thing you read on an airplane to kill a couple of hours. The characters do not translate well to the screen. Most of them are caricatures. Whoopi Goldberg phones in her usual wisecracking all-knowing black sidekick; Jane whats-her-name is not somebody you'd ever find in small-town Virginia, and Jenna Elfman is adorable but totally wasted. Ashley Judd does her usual generic acting - I can think of at least ten other actresses who could have brought her character to life a lot better (Sandra Bullock used to shine in roles like this). Ashley Judd was around 46 when it was filmed, playing 40 (her character was 35 in the book). Patrick Wilson is the one true gem in the picture, he's so freaking yummy. His real-life wife, the luscious Dagmara Domincyzk, has a bit part as Elizabeth Taylor.
You know those original made-for-TV holiday movies they show on ION-TV - sort of Hallmark Movie of the Week Lite? This is about on that level.
You know those original made-for-TV holiday movies they show on ION-TV - sort of Hallmark Movie of the Week Lite? This is about on that level.