Sigh! Another writer movie

I stumbled upon the coolest movie this past weekend.

Flipping through the channels late Saturday, I was disgusted with my DirectTV. Three hundred friggin' channels and nothing to watch? After some vicious channel surfing, my eye caught the freckled and pixie-like face of Julieanne Moore standing beside a red-headed Woody Harrelson with a full head of hair and wearing horned-rimmed glasses. A period piece, I thought immediately. Since I like movies that take place during the 40's and 50's, I settled back to watch.

I was not disappointed. The movie, The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio is the story of house wife Evelyn Ryan (Julieanne Moore) who supports her 9 children and alcoholic husband Kelly Ryan (Woody Harrelson) with prizes she wins from jingle contests. The book on which the movie was based was written by one of Evelyn's children, now a writer in San Francisco. Of course the movie deals with a lot more than just Evelyn using her gift of rhyme to support her family, but it's not about a woman trapped in a situation, her voice stiffled because of a male-dominated society. Nope. I guess my older son summed up the movie best when he said, "Man! She never let anything get her down. She makes the best of everything."

The funniest part of the movie for me was Evelyn's first meeting with a group of ladies who also use their gift of rhyme to win jingle contests. The group, called "The Affadaisies" are sitting in the living room sharing ideas for contests they plan to enter. One woman shows the group a contest entry form that advertises no skill necessary. "Do you see this?" she complains. "No skill necessary! This is the death of literacy, ladies!"

Yes, this movie is a little sweet but not too sweet that it will make 'ya sick. It's not a tear jerker, at least for me it wasn't. I guess it all depends on your emotional state.