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Rating:  - Tough for Viet Nam Vets
While I agree with other reviewers that this movie has some serious structural and dramatic defects, Willis' performance and character effectively capture much of the discomfort, ambiguity, sadness and displacement of returning Viet Nam veterans. I am one, and this movie is one of the few which accurately captures those feelings without apology, caraciture or political agenda. If only for this, it's an important movie, although not really "enjoyable" to watch or comfortable for Viet vets.
Rating:  - Good movie, lackluster DVD
This is one of those movies best seen on a lazy Sunday afternoon with nothing else to do. It is a thoughtful character study that creeps up on you and really gets under the skin.
Bruce Willis wisely downplays all of his usual acting schtick (much like he did in Terry Gilliam's Twelve Monkeys). He delivers a truly heartfelt performance as an emotionally damaged Vietnam veteran. Pay close attention to what he does in this movie -- he uses his very expressive face to convey a wide spectrum of emotions that brings across the inner turmoil that is going on in his character.
In Country is told from the perspective of Emily Lloyd's character. She is a naive, young girl who wants to know more about the war that took her father away from her and can't understand why her father's friends are so unwilling to talk about their experiences. This is her best performance of her, so-far, short career.
But, let's be honest, this film belongs to Willis and deservedly so. He's the kind of actor who needs a strong director to reign him in and Norman Jewison is that kind of a filmmaker. He really gets a wonderful performance out of Willis that is wrenching, funny, sad and everything in between.
This an excellent character-driven film set in small-town America much like the equally underappreciated Robert De Niro-Ed Harris drama, Jacknife. In Country examines how war not only effects those who fought in it but also the people around them after they return home.
Sadly, the DVD has nothing in the way of extras (a commentary track by Jewison or the book's author, Bobbie Ann Mason, would have been nice) and is also presented in pan and scanned mode. Too bad.
Rating:  - worst movie about vietnam ever
this movie is so full of horrible acting, idiotic writing, and pathetic southern accents that I forgot I was watching a movie about vietnam veterans. the movie bastardizes what should be a solemn moment- when the hillbilly family visits The Wall while discussing barbeque for lunch. I am from Kentucky and I do not know anyone who speaks the ways these idiots do; i noticed in the credits that they had a dialect coach whom I hope is out of a job! Samantha is so full of annoying energy you don't even get the feeling that she is affected by her dad's death- she speaks about it at the dinner table with her grandparents while smiling and passing the mashed potatoes and gravy! did this actress have any clue what the movie was about? the battle scenes look like they took place at someone's lake house, not the in the jungle. to say the movie is oversentimental and trite is an understatement. bruce willis serves no purpose in this movie except to remind you it's about a veteran, not just about his hick niece who jogs all over town and dreams about going to the mall someday. to sum it all up, this movie is not about the pain left from the vietnam war. it is about who can do the worst accent, yell "woo hoo" the most times, and make the most obvious stereotypical references to southern culture. this movie is an utter joke. i threw it in the trash after i saw it, and have resumed my pledge to never watch another bruce willis movie again- or any movie with the other actors/writers/directors. I would recommend this movie to anyone who wants to watch and make fun of one of the most hideous movies ever made, if it were not for the fact that it is about supposed to be about such a serious topic-vietnam.
Rating:  - bruce willis hogs the movie...give emily some movie time
A good attempt at post war but failed in many ways. the past faze shots are so fake its unbelieveable. ...the best post vietnam is 'born on the forth'. NOT this movie. Bruce Willis plays a Vet but the acting was overdone that it look fake. It works for DIEHARD, but not here. The part is beyond him as he tries to get all the attention, as well as screen shots. Emily Lloyd didnt get enough time thanks to the almighty bruce demand to be the center of attention. The ending is somewhat touching but the rest is boring and a waste of time. Save ur time and money by watching Born on the Forth.
take care all
Rating:  - Welcome Home
A surprisingly good film. I expected the usual "Vietnam Vet is crazy, and nobody understands him" film, but this was actually quite a pleasant surprise. Remarkably well acted by Bruce Willis (a surprise there as well) In Country is about a girl searching for information about her father who died in Nam. Her veteran Uncle Emmit (Willis) is unwilling to help, but she continues searching, eventually talking to Emmit and his other veteran friends. Truly a well crafted film, not hokey or overdramatized, with good to great acting all around. Based on an equally excellent book of the same name.
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