Truth About Tully Hilary Birmingham

The Truth About Tully's slow, gradually unfolding pace carefully reflects the nature of life in its Nebraskan setting. The movie is based on a O Henry Prize-winning short story by Tom McNeal, and as a result, its characters have some depth to them. The good-looking Tully (Anson Mount) works on his family farm with his father (Bob Burrus) and brother (Glenn Fitzgerald). But his father doesn't seem to want to include Tully in important decisions. He'd rather shoulder any burdens of their beloved farm and all their family secrets by himself. But the tensions between Tully and his father intensify when it looks like the farm is for some reason about to be foreclosed by the bank, even though things appear to be in good financial shape. Tully also becomes entangled in a relationship with Ella (Julianne Nicholson), who rejects his advances and tells him she wants to be his friend. This is a new experience for Tully. Ella tells Tully that she likes to believe people don't conform to types, but can always surprise you. The characters in the movie offer just that, but as the movie progresses it becomes somewhat bogged down as its slow pace becomes positively lethargic and comes almost to a stand still at one point. Still, the story is lovingly told, and there are enough surprises to hold one's interest.