Prize winner of defiance, ohio review

“How To Diffuse A Time-bomb” could serve as a subtitle for Dir. Jane Anderson’s first film “The Prize Winner of Defiance Ohio” starring Julianne Moore and Woody Harrelson. This might alert viewers that what they are going to witness is not just a simple “underdog beats the odds” sugar cookie that will play endlessly of the WE Channel and boost Kleenex stock a quarter point. Anderson has much more in mind and uses retro techniques from the “Lost in Space” school of special effects to effectively capture the “Lost in Space” era, an era of Gazebo crooners, The 454 Chevy Biscayne, giant ice chests, and door-to-door milkmen. Imagine “Leave It to Beaver” with eight more kids (thanks to the Irish Catholic Church), a sauced father, and a mother with more wit, optimism and word-wisdom than if The Black-Eyed Peas mated with The Partridge Family. Harrelson’s flawed Mr. Ryan teeters dangerously close to the “Drunk Irish Father” cliché, but thankfully never loses heart because his wife has solved the puzzle. With the patience of a saint, Ms. Ryan snips the fuse each time her time-bomb husband lights it. That is the real story here. The troubles of poverty are real. The challenges of living in a “Women As Servants” era are suffocating. But the spirit of Moore’s matriarchal Evelyn Ryan does triumph in this retro tour-de-force that celebrates pride and family in an “I Like Ike” period of American history. The grand prize she ultimately wins is not one of the countless trinkets dangled before consumers in the dawn of commercialism, rather she earns a family with respect and a common bond, though not without a significant price. Amazingly, the filmmakers resisted the “Breaking News From Dallas!” sequence that inevitably finds its way into films set in 1963. In truth, the Ryan family story, chronicled in the memoir by Evelyn’s real-life daughter Terry Ryan, needs no extraneous drama to keep one’s attention. Warning: If you neglect to bring tissues, you’ll leave with a wet sleeve. B+ By MW

The Prizewinner of Defiance Ohio

Nationwide: 9/30

Cast: Julianne Moore, Woody Harrelson, Laura Dern

Director: Jane Anderson

MPAA Rating: PG-13 thematic elements, some disturbing images and language.

Runtime: 90 minutes

Release Company: DreamWorks