Come Early Morning (2006)

I used to love Ashley Judd. The first time I saw her was in Ruby in Paradise, a lovely low-key character study in which she was radiant. She also had a brief dating relationship with Lyle Lovett (my favorite singer/songwriter) and that made me like her even more. But, you know what happened next...Lyle took up with Julia and Ashley took up with some truly stupid scripts.

I'm so glad to report that Judd's got my interest again. She's just perfect as Lucy, a smart and fierce woman who prefers anonymous one nighters in crappy motel rooms to the possible hurt that can result from a real connection. It's not an easy movie, but there's not really anything difficult about it either. I love that we're shown the beginnings of a change -- not a tidy little "she was there, now she's here, ta-da!" arc. I thought it was effective and beautiful, but I wouldn't argue with those who could rightly contend that nothing much happened.

B+