A comedy about love, marriage as well as the challenges of the marriage like the reactions of the conservative family members when a son brings home his sophisticated new wife. 

Madeleine played by Embeth Davidtz, is a Chicago art gallery owner. She is  beautiful, tall, thin, smart, cultured, sophisticated and successful. She meets handsome George Johnston (Allesandro Nivola) at an auction. She is drawn to him just by his looks and smile. After a short courtship and romance Madeleine and George get married. 

After six months, the couple decided to travel to North Carolina to pursue a painter as well as to meet George's family. Not having been invited to their son's wedding, George's parents were not too eager to see their son when he showed up with his beautiful bride. George's mother Peg (Celia Weston) is stunned by Madeleine's lack of knowledge about familial things, but her quiet husband Eugene (Scott Wilson) is pleased to see his son and his new daughter in-law. He had to play along with his powerful wife. George's younger brother Johnny (Benjamin McKenzie) who is a self centered person, totally ignores Madeleine.

Johnny is not too happy about the pregnancy of his wife Ashley (Amy Adams). On the other hand, lovely Ashley is the only friendly person in that household. She is thrilled to have Madeleine and she wants to know everything about her. She is excited to know that Madeleine was born in Japan as a diplomat's daughter and she has lived in Africa, India, Washington D.C. and has traveled the world. Ashley really adored Madeleine and made her feel welcome in that conservative family. 

George is very well aware of the situation and the reactions of his family members towards his wife. Probably he wants to leave his family as early as possible and never wants to visit his family again with his wife. 

Director Phil Morrison does a marvelous job in narrating a story about a seductive, sophisticated woman who challenges the set ways of a Southern family in North Carolina. He has paid meticulous attention to the details.  He draws excellent performance out of the cast. The dialogues are brilliant. He touches issues like loneliness, cultural and familial clashes. It a simple but resonant story that shows the depth and width of the enormous distance that can be created due the challenges in a new marriage. With a low budget film he tells a strange story of a stranger in a strange community. 

The Southern set up is beautiful and the lawns are filled with June bugs and they can be seen flying on and off in many scenes. 

Embeth Davidtz as Madeleine presents a wonderful performance. She is beautiful, graceful and elegant, as well as she is eager to please the family members. Her sophistication and elegance and compassion very easily over come the conservative attitude of her in-laws. Amy Adams as Ashley, is the soul of the film. She is naive, honest and courageous. As a humble and simple Southern woman, she is overwhelmed by the smartness of her new sister in-law. Celia Weston as Peg represents a nosey, nasty mother in-law and Scott Wilson as Eugene is a good hen pecked husband. Last but not least Alessandro Nivola as George, is confused as ever but he is a pillar of strength for Madeleine and always sticks with her. He is caught between his smart, sharp and elegant wife and his conservative birth family. He portray his dilemma as a husband to Madeleine, as a son to Peg and Eugene, and as a brother to Johnny very well. It is a deeply resonant tale that gets emotional as the familial secrets are revealed. There are many things that you will like about this film.

Most importantly the movie has a great message for the young as well as the old who are intending to get married "try and get to know the family secrets of each party before you tie the knot".

We rate this movie GOOD.