Virginia

VIRGINIA:
Living in a small town usually means everyone knows you and knows what you are doing. For Viginia(played by Jennifer Connelly) a mentally disturbed woman, she has been able to keep her secret affair with the sheriff for 20 years without anyone in the small town finding out about it. Being both married and a Mormon, the sheriff ends the affair after Virginia claims to be pregnant fearing that she will let the small town know their secret. Being left by the man she loves drives Virginia over the edge and now she must face the consequences of her actions along with her son Emmett (played by Harrison Gilbertson).

SMALL TOWN SECRETS:
Virginia is a movie that tries to be too much but ends up being too long with too little. The plot is one that has different stories going on in it but none are really given enough time to be worth having in it. The main plot is the story between Virginia, a woman who has some psychological problems, and the Mormon sheriff Dick, a man who is supposed to be this wholesome, church going man with the perfect life. Then there’s the other story of Emmett, the son of Virginia, who wants to find out who his real father is. Another story of Emmett wanting to date Jessie Tipton (played by Emma Roberts), the sheriff’s daughter who is actually following the Mormon way. Lets not forget the story of the town finding out the secret affair. And as a side note to the movies many inner stories, there’s the one of the sheriff’s wife (played by Amy Madigan) where she starts to find out about her husbands affair.

All those different story plots happen throughout the whole movie where we are given the start of it and then the ending. What happens is that Virginia has all these different things going on in it that there’s not enough time to actually give them a full story. Which is actually sad because the movie is right at 2 hours long and yet all it really does is keep introducing new plot points. Then the problem comes up where time is running out so all these stories are wrapped up to have an ending. This left them not having any real middle where we get to see Emmett hunting down his real father, him dating the Jessie, and what about this huge secret between the sheriff and Virginia being found out about.

I think this movie would have been really good if the main focus would have just been about the affair and how the people involved in it deal with it becoming public knowledge. There’s a lot more to be told in having this small towns Mormon sheriff being found out to be a man who is having an affair with a woman with mental problems. This is something that could destroy a small town, especially with all that sheriff was doing, but instead the movie tries too hard to have too much going on that it overwhelms itself. Though I got to say that I was quite impressed with Jennifer Connelly’s performance as a woman with some psychological problems. She really made the character Virginia into a woman who was crazy but could function. Virginia has a good cast with all the actors doing a good job but with too much going on in it that it does take away from the enjoyment. And what was the point of all the water bottles?