Virginia is an interesting movie with a good cast of characters. Jennifer Connelly carried each of her scenes with a true grasp of her character. Jennifer plays Virginia an unwed and mentally ill mother to a teenage son named Emmett, and mistress to Sheriff Richard Tipton, played by Ed Harris. Sheriff Tipton is a married Mormon who has aspiration of becoming Governor in the upcoming election.Sheriff Richard Tipton likes his extra marital sex kinky which Virginia is more than willing to oblige but in return she expects Sheriff Tipton to express his true love to her by leaving his trusting wife played by Amy Madigan. Sheriff Tipton wants his extra marital affair to remain a secret between the two of them so that he can keep up his charade as a good Mormon family man. What he does not know is that Virginia's son Emmett wants to marry the Sheriiff's only daughter Jessie, played by Emma Roberts. When he finds the two teenagers are getting too close, he threatens young Emmett to stay away from his family and he decides to break off his long standing sexual relationship with Virginia, and to cut her off from his weekly cash contributions. With the financial support stopped Virginia wants to help pay for her son's Emmett wedding to Jessie so she attempts to rob a bank without success. Poor Virginia is so distraught that she has no cash coming in and no way of helping her son Emmett out that she chooses to believe she is pregnant with Sheriff Tipton's baby by faking it and telling anyone that will listen that the (pretend) baby is Sheriff Tipton's.The superb actor Toby Jones plays Max a cross dressing amusement park owner who takes a liking to Emmett and offers him a job at one of his restaurants on the amusement grounds. Without spoiling the ending suffice to say, between Max, Emmett, Virginia, Mrs Tipton, and Sheriff Tipton there is a lot of love and confusion.Virginia and Ed Harris are well worth watching. Their on screen chemistry works and their characters are very believable. The ending supports the movie well and I for one was not disappointed in the way the movie ends.

Virginia (2010)An offbeat black comedy that is all charm and surprise. It plays off of a nostalgia for a simple middle America and inserts a woman who is both lovable and off her rocker. Her son is a precocious and tender teen with dreams of his own and he gets caught in the middle. The result is warm and funny and actually, in its comic way, tragic. The star and an amazing star is Jennifer Connelly, but she is well paired with the young Harrison Gilbertson. Third in line is Ed Harris playing a cop or district attorney running for office. It's Virginia Beach, Virginia and there is for some reason a Mormon presence which adds to the humor because of course even Mormons can do outrageous things. Affairs fly against expectations, nuttiness becomes dangerous chaos, and innocence is shattered thoroughly. All in ironic good fun. The story is key and it's written by the director, Dustin Lance Black. This is his first full fledged movie and it's too bad the responses are so negative. I liked it a lot. Even just appreciating the sheer acting prowess of Connelly is enough to last all the way through. Throw in a half dozen other good performances, some wonderful sets and locations, and really solid photography and it makes for something significant. Finally make the story as crazy as it is and you might have a good time here. It's not perfect, for sure. They pull the same trick that was used in another, better Connelly film, "The House of Sand and Fog," where the opening scene is the end of the story, and the rest is filling in all the facts. This means a certain surprise is removed, and an expectation raised. You might also say this is all just so frivolous and sensationalist--it means nothing and you take nothing away from it (unlike "Sand and Fog" for example again). And that's true. It's an entertainment, and maybe even a bit of a fairy tale fantasy. Certainly the very last scene, which is after the moment that opens the movie, is a comic (improbable) euphoric conclusion to it all.Check it out? Yes, if you like offbeat films.

After 2 years of waiting, I finally had the chance to see "Virginia" last night, and I'm glad I did!The film starts of one year before the opening scene where Virginia (Jennifer Connelly) is being carried out of her house by the local sheriff Dick (Ed Harris). Go one year earlier we have Virginia, A mentally ill but loving mother. She's been having a 2 decade long affair with local sheriff/Mormon Dick and has a 16 year old son in which she hopes is his but is doubtful. Virginia's son Emit has no clue who his father is but knows it is not the sheriff's in which his daughter he is dating! There is not one, but four main characters in this movie which sometimes makes it a little hard to follow. We watch Virginia go on a downward spiral into schizophrenia. Dick covering his little secret about his addiction to S&M. Last but not least Emit and Jessie love for one another which is portrait beautifully in this film.I'm surprised this film had so much trouble getting a distributor, Yes its not perfect but we have movies like VAMPIRE SUCKS and THE Dilemma (sorry Connelly) hitting screens all over the world yet this little gem got shelved. OVERALL I really liked this film. Jennifer Connelly was amazing and really showed her off her acting abilities. The young cast were great in there roles as well. 7/10

I was fortunate enough to attend the world premiere of Dustin Lance Black's highly personal, unique, and heartfelt new film, "What's Wrong With Virginia", in Toronto. The film owns a quirky charm that reminds me of Tony Richardson's "The Hotel New Hampshire" (1984, based on John Irving's novel), yet with its own very personal style. Jennifer Connelly, more beautiful than ever at 39, gives her best performance since 2003's "House of Sand and Fog". She plays Virginia Nicholaus, a mentally ill single mom who's had an affair with the local Mormon (and married) Sheriff Dick Tipton (Ed Harris, great as always) for 16 years. Her teenaged son, Emmett (newcomer Harrison Gilbertson, very convincing and simply adorable) is her only real love, and their relationship is the real core of the film (Black has stated the film is loosely based on his relationship with his mom). Things get complicated when Emmett - who may or may not be the Sheriff's son - starts dating Dick's daughter, Jessie Tipton (Emma Roberts), and how that and an unwelcome 'revelation' by Virginia can ruin Dick's political goals and marriage.Black, who won a much deserved Best Original Screenplay Oscar for Gus Van Sant's "Milk" (and gave a groundbreaking, already classic acceptance speech), is not just a terrific writer, but also a natural actor's director. He extracts great performances from his ensemble, and although this is clearly Connelly's show, other cast members deserve to be mentioned: Amy Madigan, married to Ed Harris in real life and in the film, gives a moving, understated performance that could've easily been overplayed/clichéd; she's one of our most underrated character actresses. Carrie Preston, of "True Blood" fame and the best thing about "Duplicity", plays Virginia's friend Betty with gusto, and Toby Jones ("Infamous") is great in a character that starts out as creepy to later become human and even endearing. Yeardley Smith, mostly known as the voice of Lisa Simpson, also has a small part and is one of the executive producers of the film (Christine Vachon and Gus Van Sant himself, who don't get involved with just any kind of material, are some of the others who helped bring this project to life). "What's Wrong With Virginia" provides lots of laughs and a considerable emotional punch that almost made me sob by the end. It's humorous and outrageous, tragic yet optimistic; it made me feel a range of emotions that most films out there fall short of. Well done, again, Mr. Black! It's comforting to know real auteurs are still blossoming in the world of cinema.