At first glance, the formidable cast of Main Street appears to have gathered for a chance to work off the final original script from Horton Foote, the Pulitzered playwright and two-time Oscar-winning screenwriter (for 1962’s To Kill a Mockingbird and 1983’s Tender Mercies ) who passed away in 2009. But as the film creeps along with few signs of life, one begins to suspect the real reason they’re all there is to show off that most treasured item in any actor’s toolkit — the Southern accent. Main Street is an ensemble drama that functions as a display case for a range of regional drawls, from the authentic to absurd. Patricia Clarkson, playing Willa, a divorcee who’s returned to her hometown of Durham, North Carolina, easily walks away with best in show, but coming from Louisiana she’s in slightly more familiar territory than Colin Firth, who, as Gus Leroy, a representative of a toxic waste management company, is a sorely unconvincing Texan.
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REVIEW: Colin Firth’s Southern Accent the Least of Main Street’s Problems
