To the other reviewer I would say that this isn't groundbreaking television or anything but it is hardly as bad as you are making it out to be. It's just your average TV production, a made for TV movie that actually won an Emmy so it can't be that atrocious can it? Not sure why you hate it so much that you would go online and bash it and make personal accusations about the author and other people involved simply from disliking the movie.I can'd speak for how realistic it is but as someone who knows nothing about cotton farming but knows a little about farming in general I thought it was realistic enough for a TV story. And I thought the acting was good.

I finally got around to watching this, mostly because I've always had a thing for Robert Sean Leonard. I prepped myself by reading the book in advance, since I've learned from all of John Grisham's other films that they often suffer much in the transition. He's maybe better than Stephen King in that regard, and that's not saying much.An all-star cast (especially veterans like Scott Glen and Melinda Dillion) are wasted in this made-for-television rendition of Grisham's supposed "coming of age, Korean war, post-depression era" story. The book itself almost lacks a plot and reads more like a diary, written from the perspective of a boy who has been sheltered by his family of simple cotton farmers.The characters, like in many of Grisham's books/films, are cultural stereotypes that lack depth and have predictable agendas. The plot was even predictable. It was almost painful to keep reading. The boy spies on the girl while she bathes in the stream. The girl next door was knocked up by the brother. The city-folk cousin is offended by his extended family's backward lifestyle. Sacrifices must be made in order to survive. The time and location has been changed, but it's somehow still an episode of Dawson's Creek.

*MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS*"A Painted House" was a very well done movie. I saw it on CBS last week and found it to be very enjoyable. I read the book last year in school for a book report and found this to be a good adaptation of it. The acting was very well done, the scenery was good, and the music was very good. I just wish that the movie followed the exact outline of the book, which was a very good novel. Somethings were different between the two but, then again you can't fit everything into a two hour movie. Overall I think this a very good movie and give it 9/10 stars. Everyone should watch it if they get a chance.

I did not read the novel upon which this film is based. Perhaps, A Painted House is a commentary on a real person's life, and all the incredible events shown are true. My comments concern the television film. **SPOILERS** This Hallmark production featured two men being killed, a young kid watching a teen-aged girl bathing in a creek, and two people, one a Mexican (or "wetback," as they were called in the film) and the other a "hill" girl running away northward -- hardly Hallmark fare. I did like the relationships between grandson and grandpa and between husband and wife, and their struggles to make a profit seemed real, especially on a cotton farm in 1950's Arkansas. The parts that seemed unreal were the mother's constant cheerfulness, the money spent on paint, the clean, clean loft conveniently vacated by the pickers to accommodate the displaced, poor family, and the absence of any farm pets. I liked their having no animals -- none to get hurt for dramatic purposes. Throughout the entire film I kept wondering: What is the plot? Does all this really occur in one season for a kid? And will Hallmark ever get all new adverts? And where is Ricky? This film I shall not be purchasing. Hallmark is supposed to be Hallmark!