TUMBLEWEEDS

SYNOPSIS:
Mary Jo (Janet McTeer) has had little luck with men. She’s been married several times and runs whenever things turn bad - as they inevitably do. When her latest man becomes abusive, she heads out on the road again with her daughter Ava (Kimberley J Brown). After her plan to hook up with an old boyfriend backfires, she agrees to Ava’s request to head for California. On the way, she meets a friendly trucker Jack Ranson (Gavin O’Connor) - and soon runs into him again in San Diego. There she finds a job with a security company and moves in with Jack. But she also finds herself the subject of attention from co-worker Dan Miller (Jay O Sanders).

"A towering (and Oscar nominated) performance from Janet McTeer buoys Tumbleweeds above the commonplace. The story, about a parent and child going on the road and coming to a new understanding of each other, has been done several times before - from Paper Moon to Anywhere But Here. But British actress McTeer provides enough ballsy bravado mixed with tender vulnerability to make it a consistently interesting production. Her down-home accent is perfect and she dominates the film in the same way Julia Roberts dominated Erin Brockovich. That said, Tumbleweeds is hardly groundbreaking stuff. Although McTeer’s Mary Jo is a fine study in irresponsibility, none of the characters are very original, from the precocious youngster (played with gusto by Kimberley J Brown), to the assorted losers with whom Mary Jo associates until she finds that one special man. Director Gavin O’Connor (who plays Jack in the film) wisely opts to keep the focus on Mary Jo; but this leaves precious little opportunity for any of the other characters to be strongly developed. As a result, they end up being little more than one-dimensional. And I was rather disappointed with the unsubtle use of Shakespeare as a plot device. The outcome of the story is a no-brainer but the film looks great thanks to the sunny San Diego locations. Notwithstanding its problems, I must say I enjoyed Tumbleweeds as a pleasant diversion - one helped along immensely by McTeer’s superb performance."
David Edwards