A family way

Junebug

(2005)

You can go home again, but whether that's a good idea is another question.

This was not the first time we'd seen Amy Adams--for me, that was Catch Me if You Can--but it was when she burst upon us like an earthmother force of nature, charming us as a character who should have grated like nails on slate. A lot of people, I think, didn't appreciate the film as much as they might have because they were overawed by Adams. As I return to the film, though, she recedes into the middle distance where her character belongs--still the moral center, and still the medium of a great performance, but part of a satisfying whole now, not an attention-grabbing sideshow.

Then again, whom have I spent this whole post talking about?