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

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

The acting in this movie is really good.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

At first glance, MAIN ST. would seem to have all the ingredients for an absorbing piece - a top-notch cast (with two Brits doing very creditable Southern accents), a strong sense of place (Raleigh, North Carolina), and a taut, spare script by veteran Horton Foote. Then why is the movie such a disappointment? Its subject-matter is a pertinent one: the decline of American urban life and the schemes hatched by entrepreneurs to regenerate it, which might not necessarily please the existing residents. However the production is particularly slow-moving: the camera spends a long time focusing on tight close-ups of the protagonists, especially Ellen Burstyn as Georgiana Carr. This would be a perfectly acceptable strategy, were it not for the consciously showy nature of the performances: the actors are allowed to get away with the kind of theatrical gestures and facial movements that would not seem out of place in Victorian melodrama. As a result, we end up not really caring about the characters at all. Matters are not helped by the treacly soundtrack (from the normally reliable Patrick Doyle) that obtrudes itself on several occasions. Perhaps the material might have been better if another director had handled it.

This could remind one of a Steven Soderbergh snore fest. It is a lingering, slow moving, vaguely interesting story of the modern American condition that promises much but delivers almost nothing.It is a character study of realistic people in a realistic situation forced to make difficult choices that come from a changing society. But it is all very vapid and the plot points are as unresolved and unanswered as is the finality of it all.The ending is so anti-climactic and the "change of mind and heart" from the "villain" of the piece is just abrupt and embarrassing, as is the final narration that is nothing but consummate corn-pone. The storage of hazardous waste in a formerly hazardous to your health tobacco facility is the one and only irony and the film is just uninspired.

This was a beautiful film, written by Horton Foote, who wrote the screenplay of To Kill a Mockingbird. It has the same classic feel, with an updated story to fit modern times and conflicts. Top-notch actors make it even better. No, this is not a slam-bam action flick. If you want something like that, watch Transformers. There is a plot, and it's pretty straightforward -- a hazardous waste company sends a rep to a dying town to try to convince them to let them build a plant. The film covers not only what happens in this layer, but how the residents come to appreciate and love their town. The people have heart. There is no "bad guy" here, just people trying to live. Not many films these days give me a warm, cozy feeling by the time they're through. This one did. I'm satisfied it was worth the money to watch it.

Durham is a small rural town in North Carolina that is slowly dying. Its once prosperous main street in now but a mere shadow of itself, and businesses are closing down. Symbolic of the town's faded glory is Georgina Carr (Ellen Burstyn), who lives alone in the family house. Her family fortune was founded on the tobacco industry during the 20th century, but now she has fallen on hard times. The family home is now far too big for her, and she is struggling to maintain payments. Salvation seemingly comes in the form of Gus Leroy (Colin Firth), the smooth talking representative of a Texas firm that specialises in handling and storing hazardous waste materials. Gus manages to gain a lease on Carr's vacant warehouse by promising that his business will help turn the town's fortunes around. We also meet a number of the town's other residents who are affected by the downturn in prosperity and are eager to leave to find employment and excitement elsewhere. Harris Parker (Orlando Bloom) is a local policeman who is studying law at night school in a futile effort to please Mary (Amber Tamblyn), his high school sweetheart. But she has made the mistake of falling for the smooth charms of her boss (Andrew McCarthy) at the law firm where she works. And Georgina's headstrong niece Willa (Patricia Clarkson) helps her aunt in the negotiations with Gus regarding breaking the firm's contract. Willa herself left town, but has returned following her divorce. Leroy finds himself slowly involved in the town's daily business, which eventually pricks his own conscience about the nature of his company's business. Main Street is the final script written by Pulitzer Prize and Oscar winning playwright, the late Horton Foote (To Kill A Mockingbird, Tender Mercies, etc), and it offers a eulogy to small town America, which is slowly dying in the severe economic downturn. While it nicely captures the rhythm of small town life, it is also part of the film's major failing, in that we never really get to identify with the characters or sympathise with them. There is some evocative cinematography from Australian Donald McAlpine. This is the first feature film from John Doyle, who is better known for his theatre work on Broadway. His direction is measured, but he seems unable to effectively draw the various subplots together. He draws some nice performances from his solid cast, in particular, Burstyn who is effective as the wilting Southern belle, and Clarkson is also very good as Willa. However Firth seems miscast and struggles to acquire a convincing Texan accent.