An all-star cast, (Sissy Spacek, Piper Laurie, Walter Matthau, Jack Lemmon, Mary Steenburgen), makes this screen version of Truman Capote's novel watchable, and then some. But it's all too whimsical and twee to really work. It's directed by Walter Matthau's son Charles and he seems content to let the material speak for itself. It's straightforward and literal and unexciting. It's like something the Reader's Digest might have produced. However unlikely Truman Capote's source material there was poetry in almost every line. That's missing here despite the quaint Southern Gothic narration, and none of the cast are at their best or anything approaching it. Without anything like direction from Matthau they simply go through the motions. Still, it's a decent yarn and it tugs at the heartstrings and there you have it.
Review of The Grass Harp
