Nice movie with some great songs. Realistic story, not the larger than life kind we get so often. A pitty there are so many spoiled critics around these days. Usually the viewers are no better, but in this case they are pretty spot on.

I bloody well liked it, John and Scarlett and all the cast played their parts, Elliot Davis did magic with the camera.

I thought the film was touching with a real sense of family and the slow southern society.

I watched this film 4 times in a recent visit to L.A. and it kept getting better each time I saw it. John Travolta & Scarlett Johansson put in bravura performances and the supporting cast, especially Gabriel Macht and Deborah Unger, were also very strong. The pace of the movie was quite good. In short, a beautiful film that deserves wider distribution - and soon.

This is a quite good (not great) film that is very emotionally engrossing, as long as you're not a jaded film critic. How refreshing to see a film featuring characters who care so deeply about books. Yes, it's ironic that the film fails to rise to the level of excellence of the novels referenced therein, but the writer can be forgiven for appreciating the classics while himself falling short of creating one. I found Travolta to be good (not great) in the title role. Scarlett Johansson is a joy to watch, and she handles emotionally complex material convincingly. This was a much more satisfying viewing experience than many recent movies, and it deserves a better metascore than 48 (the gap between the critics and viewer reviews appears to be larger than any other film I've seen reviewed on this website - that should tell you something about the value of this film to real people, as opposed to professional critics). The ending wraps things up a little too neatly for my taste, but I still felt the film had considerable merit. I would definitely recommend it.… Expand

Great actors, great script. Speaks to those of us from a "broken" home, and who the hell isn't these days. Quite intellectual and may be hard for some to understand, stick to romantic comedies if you can't respect the feel of this moving film.

Awesome performances, and touching story. I think Scarlett Johannson is great. I would have liked the movie to be a little longer. I really got into this movie!!

I couldn't get enough of this movie. Shades of 'Spitfire Grill' in the South. I'm not a Travolta fan, but his performance here moved me to tears. Scarlett Johansson gets better and better each time I see her. But the biggest, best, was Gabriel Macht, who manages to be a player and observer all at the same time. The story of guilt, love, affection, yes, even honor, are written in his face everytime he's on screen. Wonderful movie!… Expand

My wife and I just caught up with it on cable and we loved it. Scarlett was magnicient. Travolta was good and Macht was terrific. Also Debbie Unger.

Brilliant adaptation of Ronald Everett Capps "Off Magazine Street." This may not be for everyone, but this is one of the films I can't resist each time I see it playing on TV.