Chandler is making a fateful decision to stay away from fame and fame and return to the town where he grew up. There it will be different, where there is a group of friends and staff who help him. But he is still looking for the real music he has been waiting for for a long time, as well as the real romance he is missing and trying to live.
Your opinion of this tale of a troubled country superstar will depend totally on your reaction to George Strait. There's no denying he's handy with a tune, but dialogue proves more difficult for him.
This is an enjoyable movie for fans of country music, for whom the rich soundtrack should be a delight. And if they happen to have a crush on George Strait, so much the better.
If Strait weren't so appealing, the movie would be easier to dismiss. Let's hope it does well enough to give him a second shot and that maybe he can find something a little bit less Vegas and a little bit more East Texas.
If it were any cornier or mushier, it would be chowder, but this vehicle for country singer Strait generates a charming sweetness, the music is lively, and both Strait and Glasser are ingratiating new faces.
You always know that you're being manipulated by Pure Country, and you're usually pretty sure what's going to happen next. Still, chances are fairly good you'll leave the theater smiling when it's over, humming one of the sentimental songs.
Singers often make good actors, but Strait's debut performance doesn't measure up to his heartfelt, down-home warbling. It doesn't matter much: Pure Country is pure corn.
Though this slick-looking paean to down-home values often undercuts its own message, Pure Country is an effective vehicle for amiable country star George Strait.
Strait gives an uncertain performance, full of blatantly rehearsed reactions and stoic delivery. It looks like he's reluctant to participate, and you can hardly blame him.
The director, Christopher Cain, brings not a hint of irony to any of this -- not even to the Vegas finale in which Dusty is supposed to rescue himself from glitz.
