A Will of Their Own

Starring:Lea Thompson, Thomas Gibson, Sonia Braga, Ellen Burstyn, Faye Dunaway, Karin Anglin, Reiko Aylesworth, Charlotte Ross, Tovah Feldshuh, Elizabeth Marvel, Eric McCormack, Diana Scarwid, David New (II), John Shea, Paris Jefferson, Emmy Rossum, Devon Arielle Cahill, Brittany Renee Finamore, Malgorzata Zajaczkowska, Lois Smith
Director: Karen Arthur
Studio: Madacy Records
Product Type: DVD

Average customer rating:

"Our Very Own' is the new "American Graffiti"

Our Very Own
Starring: Allison Janney , Keith Carradine , Cheryl Hines , Beth Grant , and Jason Ritter
Director: Cameron Watson
Manufacturer: Miramax
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

Driving Lessons
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ASIN: B000OZ2COS
Release Date: 2007-07-03

Amazon.com

A collective coming of age story set in the small town of Shelbyville in the late 1970's, Our Very Own is a story about five teenagers bored with small town life who are struggling to find direction and purpose in their lives. The family lives of each of the five teens are very different, with the teens forced to deal with everything from an unemployed alcoholic father, to taunts of being gay and parents who constantly demean them. When local girl Sondra Locke, who's made it big in Hollywood, is rumored to be returning for a movie premiere that coincides with the town horse show, the five teens are inspired collaborate on a tribute to Sondra for the town variety show. Their original work aptly showcases their individual and collective talents and the five teens begin to really believe in themselves. In the end, the teens must hold fast to their dreams while continuing to struggle to find their individual paths toward maturity and adulthood. Featuring a cast of up-and-coming young actors including Jason Ritter, Hilarie Burton, and Autumn Reeser and favorites like Emmy Award winner Allison Janney, Keith Carradine, and Cheryl Hines, the acting is powerful and the story believable. Winner of the 2005 grand prize at the Bluegrass Independent Film Festival and the special jury prize at the Rome International Film Festival.--Tami Horiuchi

Description

Hot, up-and-coming teen stars Jason Ritter, Hilarie Burton and Autumn Reeser and four-time Emmy® Award winner Allison Janney head the cast of Our Very Own, the engaging coming-of-age story about believing in your dreams. Itching to leave small-town life in Shelbyville, Tennessee, five friends are sent into a frenzy when they learn hometown-girl-turned-Hollywood-star Sondra Locke may be returning. Believing she's their ticket out, they do everything they can to make it happen. 2005 winner of the Bluegrass Independent Film Festival Grand Prize for Best Feature Film and the Rome International Film Festival's Special Jury Prize, Our Very Own is a heartwarming, hope-filled story about the power of friendship, family and believing in yourself.

Customer Reviews:

"Our Very Own' is the new "American Graffiti".......2007-04-09

REVIEW: "Our Very Own' is the new "American Graffiti"
Monday, August 15, 2005
By Brian Mosely

Cameron Watson's film, "Our Very Own," is a wonderful, heartfelt and true-to-life tribute to the town and the people of Shelbyville; the place that gave him the inspiration to reach for the top and get there by coming back home to tell his unique story.

As someone who grew up in neighboring Tullahoma during the same time period, this reviewer was overcome with memories when the trailer for the film was posted on the Internet back in February.

But after viewing the movie twice this weekend, it only can be said that the time and place depicted in "Our Very Own" is perfection, pulled from the writer and director's experiences, loving recollections magically brought to life, ones that many in this town share.

The year is 1978; a time in which there was still some type of innocence left in the world. Five teens -- played by Jason Ritter, Autumn Reeser, Hilarie Burton, Derek Carter and Michael McKee -- are spending the summer with nothing to do but borrow Mom's car to go cruising. It's long before the Internet, cell phones and sky-high gas prices -- and no video games are in existence except for "Pong."

So when the rumors start flying that the hometown girl who made it big, "our very own" Sondra Locke, is to return for the 39th annual Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration, the teens are sent into a frenzy. Resser's character, Melora Kendal, becomes obsessed with the thought of being discovered and following in Locke's footsteps.

At the same time, her best friend, Clancy Whitfield (Ritter), is falling for Melora but is dealing with a deepening crisis at home. His father Billy, played by Academy Award-winner Keith Carradine, is spiraling down a dark path of destruction brought about by grief and guilt, while his mother (Allison Janney) tries to keep the family and her dignity together.

Life in Shelbyville is wistfully portrayed as the rural South once was. Every performance is dead on target, from Carradine's too brief, but effective, work as a man whose life has fallen out from under him to Resser's bright-eyed youth who yearns for more than her life seems to offer.

Janney's work as Joan, a woman trying to keep her world from falling apart, is something that hasn't been seen in film in recent memory. She feels as trapped in her life as the kids do, effectively brought to life when she realizes in one scene at a ladies' town meeting that no one has ever left Shelbyville. Her rapid shift in emotions reflects the chaos her life is becoming.

Ritter has the difficult job of playing a character who's living a double life, trying to balance his time with his tight group of friends with the unfolding tragedy at home, and pulls it off with staggering realism.

Resser's Melora is a striking ray of sunshine and naive optimism who reaches for the stars and knows she'll make it, if she can just get that one break like her idol Locke did.

Beth Grant is dead on authentic as Melora's mother Virginia, a chain-smoking Southern woman who seems to spend all of her time cooking, sewing and sadly shaking her head at whatever scheme the kids cook up next. Equally effective is Amy Landers as Melora's sister Rhonda, who seems resigned to the life that's been handed to her.

Cheryl Hines plays Sally, best friend to Joan since high school and key linchpin in the local rumor mill. She fulfills her role as the person who's always there -- with a shoulder to cry on and receive support from with understated grace.

Academy Award-nominated Mary Badham, who returns to film after almost 40 years, speaks no words in her all too short time on screen but says more with her eyes than most current performers are able to express in two hours.

Other standout roles are Faith Prince's turn as the town busybody, Dale Dickey's sassy waitress [Skillet] at Pope's Cafe, Burton's always bored Bobbie Chester, whose choice in dates causes trouble for her friends, and McKee's Glen Tidwell, who is beginning to face up to certain truths about himself.

All are part of the tapestry that is part of life in Shelbyville, exquisitely brought back to vivid realization by Watson's masterful direction.

Production design is totally accurate to the time period and area, with local touches that only life-long residents would be able to spot. The score by John Swihart touches the heart with delicate adornment.

Aside from a little language that's appropriate but never excessive, "Our Very Own" is a long overdue film for the entire family, full of wit, whimsy and a glance at life as it once was and how many long for it to be again.

One wonders if there were any local kids who viewed the film this weekend that will be given the life-changing aspirations that moved the characters in the movie as it did in real life with Cameron Watson when he chose to strive for his dreams. The circle would truly be complete if the enchanted cycle were to begin again.

Average customer rating:

ENJOY THIS MINISERIES!
Disappointed
I wanted to like this movie more than I did
At Last...
Lousy DVD transfer from Madacy

A Will of Their Own
Starring: Lea Thompson , Thomas Gibson , Sonia Braga , Ellen Burstyn , and Faye Dunaway
Director: Karen Arthur
Manufacturer: Madacy Records
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000094FE1
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Customer Reviews:

ENJOY THIS MINISERIES!.......2006-12-03

Despite the other reviewers, I ENJOY this miniseries! I like how is shows our historical past. Yes, the acting isn't the greatest, but I can overlook this and be entertained by the content. I love mushy stories with all the drama and find this story charming in most parts. Warning for younger viewers: An adult shown preview this whole miniseries before letting their preteen view it. Overall: Oscar quality? No. Enjoyable? YES!!!

Disappointed.......2006-05-25

I bought this movie based on the amazon reviews and was very disappointed. The acting was terrible in this movie and I can't tell you how much "DRAMA" was over done in this movie. I would have given this movie 0 stars if possible.

I wanted to like this movie more than I did.......2006-01-09

I wanted to like this movie/miniseries more than I did. With good viewer feedback and an impressive cast, I was looking forward to watching an engaging story about several generations of women finding their own voice in an often hostile society. Unfortunately, the script for this film was so abysmally bad that even some highly experienced actors couldn't rise above it. Often the film plays like a simplified eighth grade educational drama about the history of women's rights, with a lot of speechifying quite obviously meant more for the film's audience than the individuals speaking to each other.

Despite a running time of 225 minutes, character development is almost non-existent. A Native American boyfriend comes and goes from the story with apparently no emotional effect on the lead character Amanda when she is forced to move across the country from him, presumably forever. A woman is introduced who we are later to assume becomes the Amanda's best friend for years, although we don't know anything about the basis of their friendship. Villains, such as an evil landlord and Amanda's daughter's husband, twirl their mustaches, and Ellen Burstyn struggles with little success to add a more human dimension to Amanda's ever-rigid grandmother. The level of melodrama in the story reaches unintentionally comical proportions in such scenes as an unwed mother and baby being turned out into the cold by a rapacious landlord. Lillian Gish managed to pull off this kind of material, but that was almost 100 years ago in cinematic history, and she had the benefit of having D.W. Griffith as a director.

Most of the acting in A Will of Their Own is very stilted, but I blame that primarily on extremely poor dialogue and character motivation. The best performances came from some actors in small parts: Reiko Aylesworth as the immigrant mother of Amanda, Tovah Feldshuh (I believe) as a motherly Jewish neighbor in Amanda's tenement building, and Emmy Rossum as Amanda's young daughter. All of these actors managed to pull surprising subtlety out of a very poor script. I'm giving the film 2 stars because it did draw me in enough to finish watching it, but this is a sad example of a film that could have been so much more with a better writer and director.

At Last..........2004-12-07

I have seen this miniseries on TV when it first came out and for years I have been searching for a copy. Finally I could obtain it. It is a very uplifting experience and a great entertainment but most of all I admired Ms. Thompson's performance although she was in the company of a very talented and superior cast. I have always seen her in comedy and the stellar dramatic performance she has brought to this work is a genuine living proof that she is indeed a great actress and a rare talent.

Lousy DVD transfer from Madacy.......2004-08-21

This is a marvelously produced and very well acted TV miniseries. What a shame that Madacy released it and no other company picked it up. After approximately the first hour (maybe 65 minutes) of play, the soundtrack goes out of sync. There's probably a 3-minute lag between visuals and the appropriate sound. Mouths open without sound and, conversely, a male voice may be connected with a female visual. -- Inexcusable!

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