Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #91152 in DVD
• Released on: 2008-04-08
• Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 1.77:1
• Formats: Color, DVD, NTSC
• Original language: English, French
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 92 minutes

Customer Reviews

Lord, have mercy...
I understand why Robert Duvall won the Oscar for this riveting and very beautifully restrained performance, but I fail to see why any other aspect of this movie is regarded as worthy of our praise. Personally I found the film a missed opportunity, and that upsets me since it had so much promise.

`Tender Mercies' tells the story of Mac Sledge, a famous country singer turned drunk who squandered his fame and fortune, lost his wife and child and wound up broke, working off his room and board at a motel/service station. He cleans up his act and falls in love with the owner of the motel, widow Rosa Lee, whose husband died in Vietnam. Mac marries Rosa Lee and all seems well until the urge to get back into music comes knocking on their front door. Mac attempts to write new songs, interact with his ex-wife and now teenage daughter, and fight the urge to fall back into drinking.

He finds God, he finds love and he finds himself.

Like I said, this sounds great, but it falls short in just about every area. The biggest issue I have is the films construction. I skips around so much that we never really get to understand the characters. Months go by in a few seconds, if just feels rushed. The film is under two and a half hours, which is a shame because more time was needed to flesh out these people without making them feel like caricatures. This method of delivery really takes its toll on the characters of Rosa Lee and her young son Sonny. Because so little time is spent getting to know them they come off rather uninteresting, and when they attempt to fill us in on who they are it comes off forced. It just doesn't feel natural some of their conversations; those spur of the moment "mommy, how did daddy die" conversations feel out of place.

Another issue I have is the poor acting. Like I mentioned, I understand the love for Duvall. His turn is devastatingly understated. He really understood this character and delivers a memorable and remarkable performance here. There is a passion in Duvall, a passion that is made apparent in characters he feels adjacent to. I saw it in `The Apostle' and I saw it here as well. Aside from Duvall though, the acting is very spotty. Tess Harper and Allan Hubbard suffer mostly because of the scripting of their characters, but that aside Hubbard especially is very bad. Betty Buckley is uneven as Dixie, Mac's ex-wife. I loved her first few scenes, but her final nervous breakdown was way too over the top. Ellen Barkin was stunning in her few scenes, I won't fault her a thing. Her conversation with Duvall has the perfect mix of adoration and uncomfortable confusion.

A lot of people love this movie. It was Oscar nominated for almost every big award, including Best Director and Best Picture, but honestly, Duvall is all this movie deserves. It had so much potential, but its poor construction and spotty supporting cast leave for a very underwhelming film.