I love this movie so much

Good concept, poorly executed.

Absolutely Fantastic

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

If you can accept that Virginia coal mining town can have a miner who looks like Patrick Wilson and a pharmacy owner who looks like Ashley Judd then you might enjoy this movie. Whoopi Goldberg is totally out of place here.But unrealistic looks aside, the story is quite painful. He is too young for her and she looks unhappy. I've always been a fan of Ashley Judd and praise her for not having plastic surgery to look younger. She is still very slim but there is a frown on her face and a bit of puffiness that is a little distressing to see on someone who was so beautiful. Maybe a romantic role wasn't right for her. Patrick Wilson looks too healthy and wholesome for the role - long sideburns don't a hillbilly make.The touching gesture of selling his truck to bring over her family kind of rings fake. It would have been better if she just took a trip to Italy.Don't bother with this one.

I don't think I stopped smiling from the first frame until the end, even though a few times I was smiling through tears. Call it a chick flick if you will, but this is a film with great heart and more than a little gravitas. I have enjoyed Adriana Trigiani's novels for years and was pleased to see that Big Stone Gap was to be made into a film. I admit that I was a bit skeptical about the author serving as writer and director, but kudos to her for an outstanding job! The cast is excellent -- Ashley Judd and Patrick Wilson are just right as not-so-young single residents of a small Virginia town where everybody wants to mind their business. The supporting cast includes veteran actors such as Whoopi Goldberg, Jenna Elfman and Judith Ivey, who really pull their weight. It's funny, heartwarming, and absolutely beautiful, shot on location in the real town of Big Stone Gap, Virginia, where Trigiani grew up (and where Patrick Wilson's grandparents lived. Go figure.) No phony Southern accents in this film - They get it right. Thank you!!

Adriana Trigiani is in love with her home town of Big Stone Gap, with good reason. The scenery is gorgeous. Everything else about this movie is just - meh. The book on which the movie was based was pretty lightweight, the sort of thing you read on an airplane to kill a couple of hours. The characters do not translate well to the screen. Most of them are caricatures. Whoopi Goldberg phones in her usual wisecracking all-knowing black sidekick; Jane whats-her-name is not somebody you'd ever find in small-town Virginia, and Jenna Elfman is adorable but totally wasted. Ashley Judd does her usual generic acting - I can think of at least ten other actresses who could have brought her character to life a lot better (Sandra Bullock used to shine in roles like this). Ashley Judd was around 46 when it was filmed, playing 40 (her character was 35 in the book). Patrick Wilson is the one true gem in the picture, he's so freaking yummy. His real-life wife, the luscious Dagmara Domincyzk, has a bit part as Elizabeth Taylor.You know those original made-for-TV holiday movies they show on ION-TV - sort of Hallmark Movie of the Week Lite? This is about on that level.

Adriana Trigiani is a fantastic writer especially if you are from the south and have moved away. Her humor is spot on with her southern twist. Love her books and have anxiously awaited seeing this movie for some time. I hope it gets better distribution soon. Fantastic cast. Ashley Judd, Whoopi & Jenna Elfman were cast perfectly for their characters and so was everyone else. Scenery was beautiful. I have read nearly all of her books and I hope we have a sequel soon because the story just gets better and better in the other books. Prepare to laugh and laugh. Her portrayal of a true small southern town is so special. You feel like you are part of the town and you feel like you know everyone. It's a turn back in time of the way things used to be. It's a special movie full of heart and soul.