Faith (Jana Kramer) moved away from her family’s rural home in North Carolina to pursue her singing career in New York City. It seems like she and her successful businessman husband Luke (Randy Wayne) have everything going for them, but reality comes crashing down on them when the SEC arrests Luke and puts him in jail while they investigate his involvement in a Ponzi scheme. With their assets frozen, Faith has no choice but to leave their apartment in the city and head back home.

Ten years earlier, Faith’s mother died in a tragic accident, and she hasn’t even seen the rest of her family in four years—none of them were even invited to her wedding. While Faith’s father (Gerald McRaney) is happy to see her, he’s not in great health. And her older sister Olivia (Anne Hawthorne) is still upset with the way Faith abandoned the family in their time of grief. While Faith reconnects with her past and debates her future with Luke, she runs into old friend Lee (Shaun Sipos), who is now the town doctor. Can she forgive her husband’s betrayal, or should she call it quits and pursue this new relationship?

I had mixed feelings about this film. While I thought the premise was interesting, and the acting for the most part was well done, there were other aspects that either felt rushed or were never fully conceived or executed.

I thought Kramer did an excellent job in her first leading role. Her performance was emotional and believable, and the couple of songs of hers heard in the film’s soundtrack were excellent. However, her character was supposed to be this up-and-coming singer, so I wish we actually got to see more of that. While we are told Faith is a singer, she only sings one song on camera, and that is during a flashback of when she and Luke first meet. In some other scenes, we hear music by Jana Kramer in the soundtrack but don’t see Faith performing. I think this was a missed opportunity as the songs we do hear are great. There should have been more music and more performance footage to establish this character, her profession and why she left home. Instead, she comes off more like a housewife to a businessman.

Most of the supporting cast had a lot of on-screen chemistry with Kramer. Gerald McRaney gives a touching performance as a father who is really trying to get his daughter to honor her commitments and do the right thing. While Anne Hawthorne also convincingly plays Faith’s sister who must overcome this grudge from the past. And there was tremendous chemistry between Kramer and Shaun Sipos—you could instantly see the attraction between Faith and Lee, and could easily tell why she feels tempted to abandon her marriage for him.

That just leaves Randy Wayne—save for the scene where Luke falls for Faith as she is performing on stage, I really didn’t see any chemistry between Luke and Faith. I believe we are supposed to be rooting for Faith to forgive her husband and save her marriage, but I often found myself thinking, just forget him and go for Lee! I don’t know if it was poor writing or poor acting, but most of Wayne’s scenes just weren’t very good. It often felt like he and/or his scene partners were just reading lines rather than acting them out.

That said, the film does have some nice emotional arcs, and makes you think about forgiveness and whether, if put in the same situation, you would make the easy or the hard choice. I applaud the film for not going the conventional/simple route and have Faith immediately jump into bed with Lee as revenge against her husband. Instead, Faith’s father really pushes her to look inside herself and determine for herself whether the marriage is worth saving and whether the commitment she made to Luke is worth honoring. This is not something you typically see in a romantic film like this.

The audio presentation of this DVD is a little center channel heavy. I wish they had given a 5.1 audio track to really expand the musical performances in the soundtrack. The songs are great but aren’t given the opportunity to really shine. The video is sufficient, but a bit inconsistent. It can go from crystal clear and crisp in one scene to grainy in the next. Seeing as this is Kramer’s first leading role, I wish they had included more DVD extras. We get one music video, but it would have been great to have an interview or audio commentary with the actress or some kind of behind the scenes footage.

This movie may not be for everyone, but it provides a thoughtful drama with some emotional scenes and great music. This may be Kramer’s first leading role, but it certainly won’t be her last!

What’s Included on the DVD:

Film: (1:29:13)

• Video: 2.00:1 (16×9)
• Audio: English Dolby Digital 2.0
• Closed Captioned
• Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish, French

Extras:

• “First and The Last Time” Music Video (3:33)
  The music video for the song Faith performs when she and Luke first meet. The bar performance is intercut with footage of Luke and Faith’s relationship from the film.

• Sneak Peek (3:41)
  Play All or select from trailers for Safe Haven, October Baby and Cowgirls N’ Angels

Final Thoughts:

Heart of the Country is a thought-provoking romantic drama that doesn’t follow the typical formula you would expect. Jana Kramer provides a great performance in her first leading role, as well as some excellent music for the film’s soundtrack. The audio and video presentation on the DVD are not spectacular, but certainly sufficient, but the bonus material is minimal. The film is at least worth a rental, but fans of Jana Kramer should really enjoy seeing the actress/singer take center stage in a feature film.