The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio (2005)

Definitely a tug-at-your-heartstrings kind of movie. Based out of the 1960's, a woman deals with the struggles of being a stay-at-home wife to an alcoholic, a mother of ten children, and never having enough money to pay the bills and have food on the table. She begins entering contests (which were apparently very common in that time period), and to attest her writing abilities, winning them. The contests put food on the table, pay the mortgage, and buy the milk (often). Through the ups and downs of child rearing, her tumultuous marriage, and her winnings - this movie makes you truly feel like you understand their struggle. It never ceases to amaze what women went through in that era. Amazing woman, great movie. Would recommend.

In the early 1960s, small town wife and mother of 10, facing hard times, wins a slogan contest and buys her family a new home, but that doesn't ease the volatile nature of her deeply troubled, resentful husband. Julianne Moore is probably well-cast as real-life perennial contest winner Evelyn Ryan, but this adaptation of Terry Ryan's memoir is episodic and thinly-conceived, and doesn't allow Moore anything to play but sunshiny perseverance and hopeful determination (which isn't enough to build a tangible character on). Moore's perky narration--often played directly to the camera--sticks out as an uncomfortable artifice, while Woody Harrelson's dark presence as unhappy Mr. Ryan is the equivalent of a flat tire. At one point, after a violent situation has resulted in Moore's going to the hospital, she and Harrelson have a sensual make-up moment in the bathroom, a scene which gave me the creeps. The accurate art direction and design are the main things to see here, and Moore's true grit is admirable, but the story just isn't gripping on a dramatic level. ** from ****

The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio, is based on the true story of Evelyn Ryan, a mother of ten in Defiance, Ohio, who supported her family of 12 by writing winning jingles for contests.Julianne Moore is Evelyn, a unflappable mother who somehow keeps her cool raising her ten children and dealing with a drunken husband "Kelly" (Woody Harrelson), a machinist who spends all his money on booze. Her pastor advises her to make a better home for him. Thanks, father. Sober, Kelly is a sweet enough man, if ineffectual. Drunk he resents that it is she who supplies what money and food they have and has put a roof over their heads and he becomes violent - not towards her or the children, but by breaking and throwing things. This scares the kids. Once, a near tragedy is avoided when, during one of his tirades, Evelyn falls and the milk bottles break. One more inch and that would have been it for her.When she wins $5,000 (she had multiple entries using her kids' names, a common practice - one entry per name), she and her husband (Woody Harrelson) purchase a house, but only he signs the mortgage.Very much, the point made in this film is that things were different for women in the '50s. Evelyn was a clever woman who had a bright future as a newspaperwoman, but she gave it all up for marriage and family. On TV, we see Queen for a Day and Miss America saying she wouldn't vote for a female president because women are "too emotional." The acting is good all around, with Moore the perfect '50s housewife - maybe too perfect - how any woman could hold it together given her life is beyond me. Only a few times do we see her break down and be anything but calm and cheerful. Harrelson is excellent as a weak man who, despite his unhappiness, can't get his act together to give her enough money for the milkman.Supposedly the film is very close to the book, written by one of the daughters. The vintage elements are wonderful; one really feels as if it is the '50s, with the typewriter, the black and white TV, the old cars, the clothes (some of which belonged to the real Evelyn Ryan).Very good.

This film is sweet but ultimately not all that interesting. That's partly due to the way it is told and partly due to an extremely simplistic portrayal of the main character. When the most engaging person on screen is a supporting character the audience isn't even supposed to like, that's generally a sign of a movie that doesn't quite get it right.Based on a memoir by one of her daughters, The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio tells the story of Evelyn Ryan (Julianne Moore). She's a 1950s housewife in the aforementioned small town with ten kids and bitter, boozy husband (Woody Harrelson). The entire film is basically about how Evelyn's family struggles with money and with her husband's irresponsibility and simmering anger and resentment, problems Evelyn deals with by entering and winning an astonishing number of writing and jingle contests.You see, Evelyn was a "contestor", one of many people around the country who entered the advertising contests companies ran throughout the 50s and into the 60s. It was both the outlet for the writing career Evelyn gave up when she married a lesser man and a way to paper over all of the family's money concerns, which would exacerbated by her husband drinking away much of his paycheck.A pleasant and mostly well-meaning tale, the movie is never able to really click. As hard as it tries, it never grows on you or makes you genuinely care about what happens to Evelyn and her family. I think there are 3 reasons for that.1. The storytelling, especially at the beginning of the film, keeps you to much at a distance. It plops you down into Evelyn's life after she's already got her full family in place and has been entering contests for a long while. Then it tries to fill you in on all the back story by having Evelyn tell you herself, but not just through voice-over narration. It has Evelyn look directly into the camera and talk to the audience. Sometimes she does that in the middle of the screen. Sometimes there will be two Evelyn's on screen. One to act normally and the other to address the viewer. It's a technique that pulls you out of the story because it's too clever for this material, like telling a knock knock joke in Latin.2. Evelyn Ryan is a woman of relentless positivity who greets every challenge and setback in life with the same refusal to get angry or dwell on any unfairness. That might make you a great and happy person in real life. It does not make you interesting to watch. There's nothing to grab on and relate to with her, unlike her husband. It's kind of fun to see Woody Harrelson try and convey his character's stew of basic decency, frustration and wounded pride. He's a man who lost his chance to be a singer after a throat injury and took a job he doesn't like to support his family, only to be shown up by his more talented wife. Watching someone grapple with unhappiness if far more involving than watching someone who refuses to be unhappy. Evelyn is simply too opaque a human being to be the center of this sort of story.3. Even though Evelyn proclaims "I'm not a saint!" in the film, that's how she's presented. But if you pay attention to the relationship between Evelyn and her husband, as seen by her author daughter, there could have been a much more interesting take on her. While her husband is angry and yelling and acting out, Evelyn essentially just ignores his behavior. She doesn't interact with him like they're both adults, but like he's an overgrown and troublesome son she can't deal with any more. Evelyn lets him stew in his own juices while she goes about her own business, abandoning him to become greatly resented by their children. Though her daughter could apparently never acknowledge it, there are the outlines of a much more complex Evelyn Miller. Less a saint and more a woman who participates in her own martyrdom.The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio has some appeal as a glance into a substratum of mid-20th century Americana, but it never manages to work on the emotional level needed for this sort of family-friendly film.