If you’ve seen “Walk The Line,” the story of the love between Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash, which garnered a Best Actress Oscar for Reese Witherspoon, you really don’t need to see Lifetime’s sanitized version of the same love story.
“Walk the Line” was the sometimes-harrowing true story made from the book by Johnny Cash (played by Joaquin Phoenix) about his career, his relationships, his marriage to June Carter (Witherspoon) and his out- of-control substance problems.
Lifetime’s “Ring of Fire,” based on the book by Cash’s son, John Carter Cash, is the never-harrowing story of how little June Carter grew up to become a famous singer and married a few men before falling in love with, and marrying, Johnny Cash.
On the good side, Jewel, as June Carter Cash, is quite good and, her voice and beauty work well to make her a very likeable character.
However, why in God’s name Matt Ross (“American Horror Story,” “Big Love”) was cast as Johnny Cash is anyone’s guess.
Ross, who does a creepy, sniveling guy better than anyone, is totally miscast playing big, rough, tough Cash. In fact, it’s so incomprehensible that it’s, well, creepy.
Not only doesn’t Ross have the big, deep baritone voice of Cash, his voice is actually kind of whiney. Now, we all know the guy’s a good actor, but sometimes you gotta stick to type.
The story begins with little June working in her family’s singing group where everything was nice all the time, and everyone was extremely understanding — especially June’s mother, Maybelle Carter, portrayed by a totally expressionless Frances Conroy, (“Six Feet Under”).
Whether she’s singing or just listening to Johnny detox in the next room, Conroy remains a blank. Maybe Mother Maybelle was the world’s most passive woman, or maybe just a dope, but nothing registers any emotion with her here.
Worse, however, is the passive nature of the movie. June and Johnny’s passionate, on-the-road life is white-washed into a placid, chaste thing in which not even a kiss is shared until after both had gotten free-and-clear of their spouses — who just kind of disappear without explanation.
Two hotties who were hot for each other, traveling together for months in a bus and staying in motels, didn’t even kiss until both were divorced? Right.
But this is a story written by their son — and nobody wants to imagine their parents doing the nasty, let alone getting nasty when they were still married to other people.
Jewel’s renditions of the country classics is brilliant — and almost makes the movie worth watching.
But that’s only if you record this endeavor and skip through the story.