Tells the story of Fisher Willow, the disliked 1920s Memphis débutante daughter of a plantation owner with a distaste for narrow-minded people and a penchant for shocking and insulting those around her. After returning from studies overseas, Fisher falls in love with Jimmy, the down-and-out son of an alcoholic father and an insane mother who works at a store on her family's plantation.
The script is half-a-fortune at best, and visually the picture is staid. But you stick with it, because it's Williams and because certainly no one since Williams has written this sort of embroidered dialogue.
– Michael Phillips,
Chicago Tribune,
7 Jan 2010
rotten:
It's minor Williams turned minor cinema, but there are nonetheless moments that resonate.
– Moira MacDonald,
Seattle Times,
7 Jan 2010
fresh:
Even though Howard never quite gets it, never quite releases into the role and never quite convinces, she never makes a mistake, either.
– Mick LaSalle,
San Francisco Chronicle,
7 Jan 2010
rotten:
If you are not already familiar with Williams's best plays and film adaptations, this musty magnolia of a movie won't encourage you to seek them out.
– Peter Rainer,
Christian Science Monitor,
8 Jan 2010
fresh:
The characters and themes are redolent of earlier and better Williams works, and the story unexpectedly putters out at the end-but seeing it now, you can't help but treasure the simple, lyrical dialogue and sure-handed narrative thrust