Reese Witherspoon as June Carter in Walk the Line

Best Actress at the 78th Annual Oscars (2005)

Notable Quote:

“I’m sorry I let you down, ma’am.”

Synopsis:

Johnny Cash (Joaquin Phoenix) drinks, does drugs, sings, and does more drugs in this snoozy biopic. Thank God June Carter (Reese Witherspoon) is there to drag his ass along :eyeroll:

The character:

Poor June: she gets treated like shit both by Johnny and by this fucking movie, which renders her as a washed out cliché of the long-suffering woman. The screenwriters believe that June is an angel sent down to Earth solely to help Johnny Cash. And not just to get him into rehab and keep him sober (which she does, by the way) but to warm up the crowd for him, and to help him buy presents for his kids, and to cook Thanksgiving dinner for his family, and literally at one point to teach him how to fish!?! He can’t do anything without her!

Maybe the worst thing about all of this that we don’t even see what’s so attractive about Johnny, or why June stays around. The Johnny of this film is a charisma-less dickweed, a childish addict who throws temper tantrums. In exchange for assisting him with every aspect of her life, Johnny runs wild over her boundaries, embarrasses her in public, and will not fucking leave her alone when she does try to get some space from him. At one point, they’re on the tour bus, it’s the middle of the night and he wakes her up to propose marriage to her, and when she tells him to go back to sleep, he rants about how she’s just scared of being in love and doesn’t want to love control, and I’m sorry, I would’ve tossed him off the bus and backed it over him at that point. You won’t be shocked to learn that when she finally accepts his proposal, it’s because Johnny does it on-stage and refuses to sing unless she’ll marry him, nothing like a little coercion to kick off your relationship.

My other issue with June is that she has no interiority. It’s such a bummer because she’s likeable and funny, she’s got a great stage presence, she’ll occasionally wild out and do something like chuck bottles at Johnny, but ultimately, I’m never clear on what’s going on in her head. She’s just this eternally stalwart figure with endless reserves of kindness and I want her to have some kind of darkness in her. I mean, this is a woman who ended up with Johnny Cash as her third husband, something’s going on there but there’s no depth in this movie, she’s just an accessory to Johnny’s story.

The performance:

I know I just had a litany of complaints about this character, but Reese Witherspoon herself is great in this role. Yes, I wish she had a more complicated and interesting character to work with, but she does the best she can, and she’s certainly the only light in this dim film. She plays on her best trait, which is her ability to be both tough and sweet, often in the same moment. June is endearing and likable, and steals the show. Of course Witherspoon’s southern accent is impeccable, and she’s also so freaking pretty as a brunette – I especially love the series of bumpits that she gets to wear throughout the film.

Also, Witherspoon is a really good singer! I completely buy that you would pay to hear this person, and given that the film’s music is one of its only redeeming qualities, that’s extra important. Even beyond singing, Witherspoon gives June a great stage presence: like, there’s an early moment where she’s snarking to the MC about having laringytis, doing this whole comedy routine, and she’s genuinely funny.

The movie:

I’ll give this movie credit: it’s gotten me listening to a lot of classic Johnny and June, and damn did they make some incredible music. “Times a Wastin’” is gonna be stuck in my head for the next week! But now that I’ve told you to listen, you can skip this dumbass movie. Ugh, first, I hate biopics that are like, this event happened. Then this event happened. Then this. And forget that this is still meant to be a movie that tells a story, not just a recitation of things that happened to a famous person.

In addition to being incredibly plodding, it’s actively irritating, probably in large part because Joaquin Phoenix bugs the shit out of me, he’s such a creepy weirdo, which would be fine if the movie was supposed to be about a creepy weirdo, but Johnny Cash has a larger-than-life persona that doesn’t get captured. It’s also way sexist: I’ve whined about June, but a major dishonorable mention to Cash’s first wife, Viv, somehow such a shrewish stereotype that I found myself rooting for the man who cheated on and abandoned her.

Was the Oscar deserved?

Yes, I wish it was for a better movie but it was still well-deserved.