BallWubba Wow! What a bizarre film! Unfortunately the few funny moments there were were quite overshadowed by it's completely weird and random vibe throughout.

Livestonth I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

AnhartLinkin This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

Juana what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Cosmoeticadotcom The acting is first rate, but, despite her Oscar, Page was better in Woody Allen's Interiors, in a much more demanding and unsympathetic role. The real stars here are Glynn and Heard, and it's a tossup as to which actor is better, for neither is as accessible as the Page role. Glynn's role is as a seeming bitch, but we never really believe that, as in several moments throughout the film we see she really does care for her mother. Heard's character never has problems showing he cares, but he is a classic hen-pecked type. Since abrasiveness and seeming cowardice are not valued traits, it's no wonder both Foote and the audience sympathize more with Mother Watts, and this is why she is the de facto lead, even if her tale is the least interesting, and most predictable, of the three- especially when we learn that two of Ludie's siblings died in that town, in childhood. The character played by DeMornay is, by contrast, merely a plot device to get inside Mother Watts. With that done, her exit from the film is anticlimactic.The film got mixed reviews on its release, but even those who praised it did so for the wrong reasons, lumping it in with lesser nostalgic schlock like The Color Purple and the later Driving Miss Daisy. There was also the critical cribbing regarding Mother Watts' first name, as well as some claims that the film has flashbacks, due to the opening credits scene where we see a young Mother Watts and child Ludie running through a field of flowers. But, since this is the opening shot, and is never repeated, it cannot be a flashback. The film could be considered a flashforward, but given the bulk of time spent in the film's present, this is ludicrous. It does, however, amply show the problems many critics have in dealing with art that does not conform to their preconceptions, nor the promotional material they are given. The film's main themes song, Softly And Tenderly, sung by Cynthia Clawson, is memorable, but scoring is not a strength of this film.The Trip To Bountiful has many great points and moments, but it is not a great film, for the translation between media is a difficult thing to pull off. But, the film shows the failure of much contemporary writing, with an over-reliance on diurnal description and rote explanation, whereas true characterization comes from observation- the viewer being to observe what and what not the character does, and how that has an effect on the character, even if the whole observational process is discreetly exhibited. This film is a great example of characterization at its finest, and even though it does not achieve overall greatness in this medium, it small failures point out the way that the truly great works of the filmic medium do achieve it. Thus, it recapitulates much of the learning process that the tercet of main characters undergoes. Not bad for a failure, eh?

jzappa The Trip To Bountiful is an unexpectedly interesting piece of drama genuinely portraying the battle of the age groups. Geraldine Page masterfully plays an old woman who is determined to outwit her bossy daughter-in-law so that she can visit her childhood home. Her portrait of this elder is a fusion of desperation, wisdom, and all but emotion being diluted by time. There is a lot of shrewd spontaneity in her performance that challenges her co-stars. Carlin Glynn provokingly takes the part of the imposition of the succeeding generation, an interfering, self-consumed woman Page puts up with only for the sake of her son, Glynn's broodingly compliant husband, played by a very likable young John Heard.The script is exceptional in its unfussiness, as all the narrative obstructions to Page's fraught yearning to replenish herself with a nostalgic visit to her old home of Bountiful don't seem to phase her. This is a touching recognition of the seasoned nature of many elderly people, as Page, despite how miserable it must be to be intimidated by someone thirty years younger than you into remaining in their apartment passing away the time in a chair and a window, for the most part alone, as we first see her in the film, and to reminisce about the bygone times and lost relatives, is beyond the sort of anger and frustration that would set a younger person in a rut. This, however, is merely my twenty-year-old male opinion, though I would say that is a testament to the effect of the movie.Beautiful Rebecca DeMornay creates a wonderful character, a sensitive young woman who meets Page by happenstance and projects a wonderfully virginal, serene presence. She opens Page up, just as Richard Bradford's humble, taurine middle-aged sheriff does. The Trip To Bountiful is not a brilliant film. It's simply an enjoyable and engrossing piece of work.

victor7754 The Trip To Bountiful is a touching and thought provoking film on the human condition as we grow older and the generations of our existence begin to fade into others leaving some of us behind to dwell in how beautiful life was. The film opens on a hymn "Softly and Tenderly Jesus is Calling..." and there is a young mother chasing her son, a boy through a golden field touched by lilac. The mother catches her son and lifts him to her chest and hugs him deeply and there is a warm start to what will be a great story on the human condition through the aging of time.From the Golden Field serenaded by a hymn the future is laid upon us and we see the Mother, 40 years later rocking in a chair staring out a window in a city apartment humming a hymn. Meet Geraldine Page the Oscar winner who portrays Carrie Watts, A Woman determined to go back to her rural country hometown Bountiful and relive the moment. Carrie lives with her son Ludie portrayed by John Heard in his city apartment along with his wife Fannie Mae who dislikes the humming of hymns. Fannie Mae is a pain in the ass caught up in new post war II bourgeois Caucasian existence.The film follows Carrie on her adventure to get to Bountiful and the petty events that try to stop her. Rebecca Demorney fills the screen for a brief moment and reminds us how beautiful youth and innocence is and how kind we all can be as strangers.A lyrical and teary eyed experience. Gets you in the heart and reminds us to embrace the presence and prepare for a future.

thequeen94105 First time i have ever seen this movie. I was enthralled. I loved Page's performance. I've known people like Carrie Watts. I've also known people like Jessie May, who need a good slap. Rebecca DeMornay was so kind and sweet and it makes you want them to stay in touch. You almost get the feeling that Carrie Watts was receiving messages from her dead friend, the sense of urgency she had about getting home; and then to get home and find out your friend had just died and was buried the day before. My own mother lived only 100 miles from where she was born and she very rarely was able to go back to see her old homestead; the house that she lived in during the winter is still standing and in good shape. I feel bad now that I never made a bigger effort to take her back there so she could visit. This is one of the best movies i have ever seen.