Scanialara You won't be disappointed!

FeistyUpper If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

Jonah Abbott There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

Guillelmina The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

edwagreen I loved Colin Firth's southern drawl in this interesting 2010 film.Yes, Ellen Burstyn is elderly here but at least she is not crotchety and ready to do battle in her usual sinister, cynical ways. Here, she plays a southern lady filled with memories of the house she has lived in all her life, but is now finally ready to sell.Orlando Bloom and his screen girlfriend are two characters caught up in this town, a victim of urban decay. Both wish to escape from the town, but circumstances prove that not to be the case.The environmental problems needed to be expounded more; instead, we have a repentant Firth at the end, and a gullible city council that nearly bought his sales pitch.

Barbara As others have indicated, this was an amazing ensemble cast wasted by a truly poor script. But, I think the biggest issue here is the outdatedness of the issues identified. In the world of 2010 United States several factors are just wrong in this film. I am wondering if Horton Foote actually wrote this script in the 1970's or 80's when the issue of Hazardous Waste was front and center. Yes, we still have concerns, but the use of nuclear energy is almost a given in our day and age. We rarely hear of hazardous waste spills, as the technology has so improved. We recognize that the risks often outweigh the benefits of a cleaner environment, but it is our reality until we can effectively convert to wind or solar energy to a large scale. The public demand, although present, just is not strong enough to get this job done. Therefore, hazardous waste is simply a fact of life today. In this script, I find Gus's fears of a spill far from believable, and cannot imagine him acting in the way presented.In addition, Mary's issues as a woman are truly outdated. First, we are no longer the mobile society we once were. People do not just leave to find work in other cities. A woman like Mary would be much more inclined, in today's world, to stay in her home town and become an entrepreneur. Women do have more options today. Also, losing her job for not sleeping with the partner at the law firm is just so passé. In our world of diversity training and liability, Mary would win hands down in a lawsuit. In Main Street no one even blinks when she is fired for being unhappy about sexual harassment. Give me a break!! And, as for her calling Harris a potential loser, $30,000 as income for an entry level cop doesn't sound really all that bad! And, if Harris is planning to become an attorney in the Raleigh/Durham area, it sounds like he has a very good future. Mary's leaving, therefore, is questionable! Bottom line for me, although I agree the script was pretty boring, I can imagine actors very interested in one written by a Pulitzer Prize winning author. But, watching this film, I felt like I was watching one of the preachy films of the 70's or 80's. It's biggest sin being it's irrelevance.

homespun13 I watched to the end, so it wasn't "that bad", as I saw the movie on a DVD at home and could have turned it off at any time. But that much said, it barely crossed my personal limit for "tolerable". The storyline is pretty dull and nothing can "fix" this. When you start with an uninteresting story, you get an uninteresting movie. I have no idea what Colin Firth was thinking to accept this part. I chose the movie because I figured he was a star and would surely only appear in a solidly good movie. I was wrong! Perhaps he thought it would be a challenge for him to play a character who is a Texan and felt this would give him a chance to break into being offered also roles for characters who are supposed to speak with American accents. He did quite well in terms of portraying a Texan, but that hardly compensated for a lack of an interesting plot.

John Raymond Peterson The talent in this movie would make any director jump for joy; it's unfortunately used to deliver a weak character study, and not a character study of people so much as a character study of a town with the 'Main Street' a symbol of slow death. There is a user review by 'tarmcgator' from Durham, that elaborately sets the record straight about Durham N.C. and I was happy to read it. The actors Colin Firth, Ellen Burstyn, Patricia Clarkson and Orlando Bloom, all talented and experienced, were likely just filling in time between projects because I don't understand why they would have signed on to this project. They can't be faulted for doing a good job in a movie so tedious and slow; supporting actors Andrew McCarthy, Margo Martindale and Amber Tamblyn can no more be blamed for the anemic film. There is nothing compelling, nothing in way of build up, no climax; a couple of days in the life of a city that has seen its best days decades ago and where the story of three typical small families (what's left of them) is told with no emotional investment for the audience. It has a low rating and few will recommend it; I certainly don't.