Film Review: Indie 'Tennessee' road trip fails to find route to niche : GoMemphis.com

Opening today in Memphis, Nashville, Knoxville, Dallas and a few other cities, "Tennessee" is a well-intentioned indie road drama with a convincingly de-glamorized Mariah Carey in the supporting role of a Texas waitress who dreams of being a country music star.

Written by newcomer Russell Schaumburg and directed by Aaron Woodley, "Tennessee" stars Ethan Peck as a young teenager with leukemia who convinces his reluctant brother (Adam Rothenberg) to drive him back to East Tennessee, to find the drunken, abusive father the boys and their mother abandoned years before.

Heading down Interstate 40, they pick up another refugee from abuse, Krystal (Carey), who wants to go to Nashville to sing. Krystal's possessive husband is a state trooper (Lance Reddick) who uses his law-enforcement connections to track the trio. Unfortunately for Bluff City viewers, the friends hop a freight in Arkansas, so the story leap-frogs the Mississippi River and Memphis to land on Lower Broadway in Nashville.

"Tennessee" is a well-made, occasionally moving film. It's too modest to make much of an impression, however, which may explain why it's finally showing up in a few theaters more than two years after it was shot. It exists in a sort of entertainment limbo -- it's too formulaic to be the sort of low-budget film that garners critical buzz or a cult audience; and it's too "indie" in its low-key approach to drama to click with a large mainstream crowd.

Originally, the film's music was by Memphian Scott Bomar ("Black Snake Moan"). That score was replaced by not particularly memorable new music by Mario Grigorov, who had worked with producer Lee Daniels on numerous previous projects. The movie also includes a new song written by Carey and Willie Nelson, "Right To Dream."

-- John Beifuss: 529-2394