Tumbleweeds (1999) Reviewed by Eugene Novikov http://www.ultimate-movie.com/ Member: Online Film Critics Society
"Get in the car!"
Starring Janet McTeer, Kimberly Brown, Gavin O'Connor. Rated PG-13.
Tumbleweeds is very much an actor's movie, one with little going for it besides the potential for tour de force performances. The script, indeed, is a thespian's dream, complete with explosive domestic abuse scenes, teary-eyed monologues and screaming fits aplenty. The performances from the small-name cast are some of the year's best, an Oscar goldmine, but the movie itself is predictable and simple. Certainly not bad, as bad movies go; I was never bored and often times I found myself engrossed. Still, as one of the characters in it would probably say, this ain't no gem.
The movie opens with Mary Jo Walker (Janet McTeer, a renowned stage veteran and Tony Award winner) having a brutal fight with her husband. He chases her around the kitchen, knocking things over, as she taunts him to give her a big bruise in the eye "so [her] lawyer can see it." Right away, she sticks her head into her daughter Ava's room and tells her to "pack up, we're leavin'!" Ava is way ahead of her, her suitcase is already half packed and with a roll of the eyes and a groan she gets into the car and they take off.
You see, this is Mary Jo's fourth marriage and she has had more than her share of experiences with abusive husbands. She and Ava have moved around a lot. Ava is sick to death of it and just wants to settle down in one place, with a father figure or, preferably, without, go to school, make friends and live a normal life. No can do -- her mother is a veritable jackass magnet: every guy she marries gets violent with her.
So Ava persuades Mary Jo to move to San Diego, which Ava falls in love with. They get there. Mary Jo gets a boring but seemingly lucrative job. Ava goes to school and makes friends. Everything is perfect until Mary Jo makes really good friends with a sexy trucker named Jack (Gavin O'Connor, who -- I couldn't believe it, from the looks of the guy -- also directed) and faster than you can say "divorce" they've moved in together. The relationship seems to be just right at first -- it always does. But soon we get little hints that everything is not as dandy as it should be. First, Jack gets really miffed that Mary Jo didn't ask her about his day. Then he almost has a contusion because of the low quality of her goulash. Before she knows it he's throwing a hissy fit in a restaurant.
The characters are attentively developed, interesting and involving. We're immediately engaged in Mary Jo and Anna's relationship and dilemma. We grow to hate Jack just as much. There's a distinctively human quality to these people and that allows for an entry point into the movie, a place where we can emotionally attach ourselves and then watch the rest of the movie from that particular viewpoint.
The problem, to the extent that there is one, is that we know how the movie will end as soon as one of the supporting characters smiles. With such an interesting array of players, it's a shame to see a script take such a painfully standard course of action. The experience, then, is a strange one: we basically know everything that is going to happen before it actually does and yet we somehow enjoy it. There isn't a single positive thing I could say about the storyline itself; it's all in the characterization.
Janet McTeer is terrific in a role that fits her like a glove. She manages to be imposing and caring at the same time adding a level of depth to her relationship with her daughter. The daughter is played by newcomer Kimberly Brown in an intelligent, precocity-free performance. Also turning in an impressive performance is O'Connor, who is formidable and rather frightening: just the note his character is supposed to hit.
Tumbleweeds lacks any real insight into love or life and it certainly isn't rife with surprises and originality. It is involving and entertaining, working an all the levels it was supposed to in the first place. Nothing new, but I'll take it.
Grade: B
©1999 Eugene Novikov
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