5/5 Review of "In Country"
  by Wade Hall
I have viewed the film,"In Country," and have read the book by Bobbie Ann Mason on which it is based. The film is an accurate and moving adaptation of the novel. The period of the Vietnamese War comes alive on screen as it was lived by the soldiers and as it affected the families on the homefront. Bruce Willis and Emily Lloyd are agonizingly effective as two Kentuckians caught up the war. The final episode at the Viet Nam Memorial in Washington is one of the most powerful and breath-taking scenes I have ever seen in a film.

1/5 Dont Waste Your Time
  by T. I. Smith (Harrison, AR USA)
I had to write a research paper on the book, which was a decent read, so I thought I would watch the movie as well. The movie is one of the worst things I have ever seen. It takes the sterotypical representation of southerners and makes it ten times worse than ever imagined. Also, I really expected Bruce Willis to bring life to the character of Emmet, but that was not the case. His performance takes all of the life out of the character and turns him into a grouchy, sullen and jerk of a man. Emily Lloyd takes the character of Sam and turns her into a half-retarded hillbilly with no personality whatsoever. This movie took a decent book and turned it into a bland, boring and insulting movie. Dont waste your time watching this movie, read the book instead. The book brings Emmett to life as a quirky, humorous man who struggles with some very serious issues after returning from the war. His friends who have also been to Vietnam are also represented quite well in the book, yet the movie turns them into a bunch of tacky, illiterate fools with overplayed southern accents. Leave it to Hollywood to take a good book and turn it into a train wreck that is this movie.

5/5 A Wonderful Movie And A Story Seldom Told: After Vietnam
  by Dr. Karl O. Edwards (Helena, Montana)
Amazon suggested I write a review on this beautifully done movie, one for which I think Bruce Willis and Emily Lloyd deserved Emmies for their performances. That recent reviews have panned the movie are a testament to the failure of history--forget it, and you will repeat it. And that is what is happening with America's new crop of discouraged veterans lost in the sea of a society that does not understand or care, and a federal institution (Veteran's Affairs) flooded with workers still trying to rid themselves of Viet Nam vets and fearful of the new vets.

Buy the movie, watch it with family and friends, read the book (which is a totally wonderful read), and try to find empathy for those struggling with the unseen losses of the wars.

Forget the reviews that pan the movie or the book; and most of all, remember it is fiction not history you are watching. If you want to know the plot, read the other longer reviews; I am writing this to rebut the negative reviews only.

Again, this movie is too good to miss.

Update--1 July 2008: If this review was not helpful to you, I would appreciate learning the reason(s) so I can improve my reviews. My goal is to provide help to potential buyers, not get into any arguments. So, if you only disagree with my opinion, could you please say so in the comments and not indicate that the review was not helpful. Thanks.

1/5 dumbest ever
  by M. Wrabel (CT USA)
this movie was the worst movie ever and the book is nothing to compete. They were both pathetic. The acting was sooooo terrible that i wanted to shoot myself many times. Anikin Skywalker in Episode 2 acted better than these broadway rejects.

3/5 Textbook case of what not to do
  by Fairleigh Brooks (Louisville, KY United States)
While almost no adaptation is page-for-page from the novel, most follow the original story, removing sequences that can be removed. Some cinematic versions of original works, though, require a different story altogether. "In Country" is one of those, but we never see that other story.

The novel concerns Sam, who lives with her Vietnam vet uncle, is finishing high school and wondering about the next sixty years of her life. The action takes place in their small town, until Sam, Uncle and her maternal grandmother travel many hundreds of miles in a VW bug convertible to see The Wall in D.C., on which is inscribed the name of Sam's father and, of course, her grandmother's son.

In my opinion that journey is the cinematic story, but we never see it. At the end, which is quite beautiful, Grandma reaches out to touch the engraved letters of her son's name, but we really know nothing about her. Up until that point we see her only as a caricature of a farm wife. Had she been a main character we might have seen the further ripples of Vietnam, or any war, which is to say the ones that tend to be invisible.

This is not a bad movie, and is technically impressive. It would have been easier HAD it been bad, though, since watching a real clinker is less irritating than watching what could have been really something.