A Country Called Home Review
By David Kempler
Homeward Bound
Ellie (Imogen Poots) is dating a sketchy guy who takes money from her purse to play poker. When he returns, he smilingly tells her that he won two hundred dollars. She asks him to return what he borrowed and he tells her that he had to use the money to pay his own bills. This tells you where this relationship is headed.
Soon afterwards, she receives a phone call that her father, who lives in a small town in Texas, is in failing health and does not have long to live. She and her brother have not seen their father in many years because they can't stand him. He was an abusive drunkard and they are happy that they are no longer involved in his life.
Despite her distaste for her father, she decides to go see him. Her brother is not interested. Before she arrives, her father passes away, and now she is forced to deal with his funeral arrangements, because her father's girlfriend, Amanda (Mary McCormack), only cares about drinking. Responsibility in any form is anathema to her.
The rest of "A Country Called Home" is a virtual parade of colorful characters. There's a previously-unknown-to-Ellie set of grandparents, a drunken buddy of Ellie's dad, a transvestite, Amanda, and a few other locals. However, director Anna Axster never lets it descend into odd behavior for odd behavior's sake. She does a good job of keeping the story chugging along, and it never becomes too farfetched.
On the other hand, the whole thing never quite soars. It's all workmanlike and professional, but it's never terribly exciting either. What we are left with is a nominally pleasing small town yarn and that's more than I can say about a lot of the stuff out there. There's just enough here for you to regard it as at least a temporary home worth visiting.
