Rent Coal Miner's Daughter (1980)

US Country Music biopic - Coal Miner's Daughter review by Mr Aquarium

Gritty biopic of Loretta Lynn; her tough early upbringing and too-young marriage are shown sympathetically but with a realistic edge. The poor people of the Appalchian coalmining country are given their due by strong supporting actors, and Sissy Spacek and Tommy Lee Jones are convincing leads, always holding attention. If you like country & western, this is one of the best biopics; even if you don't, her story still resonates.

Coal Comfort - Coal Miner's Daughter review by griggs

Sissy Spacek is the whole show here, and she somehow earns the part more with every scene. She does her own singing, which you forget about and then suddenly remember and get re-impressed by all over again. The real trick is the ageing — teenager to worn-out star — and she pulls it off without a hint of the usual biopic wig-and-makeup join.

Tommy Lee Jones matches her, quietly. Doolittle is a part that other films would've flattened into the difficult husband, and Jones gives him real warmth under all the mess he makes. Their marriage feels lived-in, not stage-managed.

The trouble is, take those two out and you're left with fairly standard biopic plumbing — birth, marriage, fame, struggle, repeat. It's the classic rise-and-fall shape, hitting the beats roughly where you'd expect.

Doesn't sink it, though. The music holds up, and there's something genuinely moving about the dirt-poor-to-Opry arc that never tips over into syrup.

A solid film carried to greatness by the two people in it.

Very good - Coal Miner's Daughter review by SB

This biopic of Loretta Lynn's early days as she became a singer takes an unhurried approach as it builds the detail of her life as a child in rural mining country in Kentucky, then as a very young wife and mother (though not quite as young as the film says). But always engrossing, because of the authenticity of what we see. Tommy Lee Jones is very good in the potentially unsympathetic role of the impatient, hustling husband who sees a lot of potential and is prepared to work hard but has some emotional weaknesses. But the centre of this film is Sissy Spacek's raw but warm performance as Loretta. She is best in the first half, because that gives her more scope than the second – although she delivers the songs herself very well. For some actors a single performance defines their career, whatever else they do well, and at least she got the Oscar to recognise this one.