Showtimes & Tickets Enter Zip Code:

COME EARLY MORNING
Written & Directed by: Joey Lauren Adams.
Produced by Michel Litvak, Ed Bass, Julie Yorn, & Holly Wiersma.
Director of Photography: Tim Orr.
Edited by: Meg Reticker.
Music by: Alan Brewer.
Released by: Roadside Attractions.
Country of Origin: USA. 97 min. Rated R.
With: Ashley Judd, Jeffrey Donovan, Tim Blake Nelson, Laura Prepon, Scott Wilson, Stacy Keach, Pat Corley, Ray McKinnon, Candyce Hinkle, Wally Welch, & Diane Ladd.

Joey Lauren Adams takes a big step forward in her career with this writing and directing debut. Known mainly as the high-pitched actress from Chasing Amy and, more recently, The Break-Up, Adams became frustrated by the options open to her as an actress and decided to write a film that she could star in. When the script was completed, she realized she wanted to make all the decisions herself ,which meant directing, so she set out on a five-year journey to raise the money for her semi-autobiographical story and lucked out in landing fellow Southerner Ashley Judd.

Lucy Fowler (Judd), an emotionally repressed woman, spends her nights getting drunk at the local bar and picking up guys. Each encounter ends with her self-mortification after waking up in a strange bed. She skulks out without acknowledging the sleeping man next to her and trashes her underwear in disgust. Just like her personal life, her family is a also a wreck – her father barely speaks to her and can't look her in the eye, one grandmother regularly visits the grave of a husband who abandoned her, and her other “Nana” has been miserably married to the same man for 55 years, who occasionally uses her as a punching bag.

Interestingly, Lucy is not your stereotypical small town girl. In fact, she's more like a small town guy. Fiercely independent, she drinks a lot, gets into bar fights, has a job as a contractor laying down foundations, and doesn't do relationships or show emotion. Yet she is shaken to her core when she meets Cal (Jeffrey Donovan), who actually wants to take her out on a date and talk to her before jumping into bed. She almost blows it when she resorts to her comfort area of getting trashed, bedding him, and trying to escape the next morning. But Cal calls her on her behavior. The scene where Lucy lets her guard down to have sex with Cal sober in order to try to feel something is handled impressively, focusing on the terror on Lucy's face and the tension in her body. Though she clearly has a long way to go to have a relationship, Cal has made a dent in her veneer.

Judd has an ease on screen, and her years of experience show especially in her interactions with the terrific supporting cast. Diane Ladd uses her few minutes to reveal the toll of an unhappy life as Lucy’s battered Nana. And as the director, Adams displays a quiet competence, especially with her great choice in country music. The film is by no means perfect. There are some story problems in trying to figure out who everyone is in relation to Lucy, and her mother's absence is scarcely explained, which would go a long way in understanding Lucy. Overall well made, this is a small, independently released film that could easily get overlooked at this time of the year when studios release their prestige pictures. Melissa Silverstein, a writer on women & popular culture and online editor for The Women's Media Center
November 10, 2006