5/5 The Beginning
  by Ellison Lowry (Pasadena, CA)
When I first saw this on TV I really like it, probably because it is a coming of age story. Coming of age stories are good because they make you aware of how you came to be a certain way as an adult.
A Painted House I felt when I saw it allows you to see how different life can be for others. My life growing up was nothing like those in this film and actually I couldn't really identify with any of the characters.
Everyone knows that opposites attract and that is the only reason I can explain for liking this movie.
Also the story is told from the youngest boy's point of view and that added something special to the narrative structure because the storyteller is looking back on his childhood.
That's another reason I enjoyed it, I love movies about writers, even though A Painted House had nothing to do with writing in its story; I still enjoyed that element that the boy would grow up to be a writer. Most people are unaware of the writer's creative process and just seeing this kid picking cotton and watching fights and going to five-cent matinees and knowing he grows up to be a writer made me watch a little more careful to see how that creative process began.

5/5 family movie
  by Michelle Polk (Mississippi, USA)
It keeps you thinking. It has a great theme of family and closeness. The story of one boy and his families hardships living by the river.

4/5 Pretty good for a book adaptation
  by Isabella Perner (Vienna, Austria)
I was curious about this film because I had recently read - and enjoyed - the book by John Grisham. And well, yes, the book IS better, but who would expecte anything else? The movie version still is very good indeed, the acting was good. Scott Glenn played the grandfather very convincingly and Logan Lerman gave a promising performance as young Luke Chandler. These two worked well together and they are the main characters. Although some slight story adaptations were made, the film still stays true to the book (John Grisham himself was involved in the project). There should have been a little more focus on the character of Cowboy, since his part in the story got bigger towards the end and only little background about the developing conflict between him and Hank Spruill (a very good performance by Pablo Schreiber as the angry young man) was really given - whereas in the book the conflict builds gradually. The final - and fatal - fight between the two also differs from the book version, but the way it starts here was probably necessary to make it work (see my comment about the lack of development). Apart from a few minor upsets, this is a fine and entertaining film.

5/5 A Painted House (DVD) based on novel by John Grisham
  by Mr. B. Menzies (Scotland, United Kingdom)
An excellent movie breathing life into the story and characters as depicted in John Grisham's story.
I loved the book and this film really does it justice. A must have for any John Grisham fans.

2/5 Read it instead.
  by John J. BAIN (Staunton, VA United States)
If you see it you'll never want to read it, a great book to read. The movie didn't carry the half of it.