Shannon Cila Based on glowing reviews from a friend that this was a sad, but good, "Christian" movie, I let my 11-year old daughter watch this without first watching it myself- BIG MISTAKE. She came in my room after watching it, deeply traumatized and sobbing uncontrollably.Can anyone clue me in on why it's called "Carry Me Home?" Is it just a play on words for the main character's name? Or is it supposed to imply some uplifting theme? I'm not seeing it.Turns out the entire movie is a long string of awful events (dad dies in the war, mom dates a new man, neighbor's parents are drunks, Charlie is abused by Grizzle, forced to sleep in a barn, Charlie gruesomely bloodies up half his face, Grizzle killed Charlie's mother, Grizzle steals Charlie's puppies, Grizzle claims to be a Christian *nice bit of subtle Christian-bashing there*, Bernard shoots Grizzle with a gun, Carrie adds to Charlie's misery by stealing his puppy and taunting him, Charlie gets sent to a foster home in the end and can't take the one surviving puppy....) climaxing with the burning of a box of cute little puppies in a barn.... Wonderful story line! Why not add feeding those kids a big lump of frozen poison and forcing them to clean the streets with their tongues at midnight (ten minutes before bedtime) every night while you're at it? Why anyone would give this flick anything more than one star is beyond me.

gradyharp In a time when made for television films from HBO in particular and Showtime et al seem to be taking more chances with riskier topics than those flooding the theater screens, along comes CARRY ME HOME with a thud that hearkens back to the whiny tearjerkers of twenty years ago. While the premise of the story appears to be warm coming of age of a young girl with only a single mother to guide her growth, the film fragments with so many subplots that are quickly and incautiously pasted together in the end, resolving everything in a shallow overly sentimental and unsatisfying mess.Marlboro, NY 1947, a time when the country is recovering from WW II, which includes the families of GIs killed in the war and the economy in ruins. Harriet (Penelope Ann Miller) keeps together her household of two children - Carrie (Ashley Rose Orr) and Brian (Harrison Chad) - by being a seamstress to the likes of Mrs. Gortimer (Jane Alexander), a town gossip and matchmaker who is advising Harriet to pay attention to the return of Bernard (David Alan Rasche) as a potential 'marrying kind'. Harriet spends her days working and remembering her GI husband killed in the war. Daughter Carrie is approaching puberty and yet refuses to behave like a girl, wearing her father's dogtags and jeans, running instead with a group of boys including her younger brother and two other lads. The 'gang' has a secret clubhouse, make mischief, taunt the mentally challenged neighbor Charlie (Kevin Anderson), unfortunate son of Grizzle (Leo Burmester) who abuses his unwanted son by forcing him to live in a barn. Charlie's only friends are the puppies he treasures. The destructive pranks played on pathetic Charlie include stealing one of his pups, destroying the food garden of Grizzle, pouring sugar in the gas tank of Grizzle's John Deere tractor, etc. In other words this little group of kids is cruel and their shenanigans are mean-spirited.Harriet finds it impossible to control the behavior of Carrie and quite out of keeping with the 1940s family unit, Carrie sasses her mother viciously and in general is an unlikable brat. When Bernard begins his courtship of Harriet the prospect of Harriet's finding a modicum of happiness is undermined by Carrie's behavior. In a particularly cruel evening's prank, Grizzle's garden is destroyed, Charlie is reduced to self-mutilation because of the stealing of his pup, and the lowly barn in which he lives is destroyed by fire. Grizzle and Charlie survive and the effect of this final disaster on the lives of Harriet and her children and their 'emotional awakening' serves to make a hanky call and end the story with an unsatisfying bump.The script by Christopher Fay is pedestrian, leaving the film with poorly motivated characters about whom it is difficult to care. Penelope Ann Miller tries her best to make the most out of Harriet, but Ashley Rose Orr renders one of the least likable young girls on film. This is a black and white script without motivation. Jace Alexander directs, which probably explains why his mother Jane Alexander consented to do the tiny walk-on part to give the film attention. The crew manages to make the mood of America in the post-war years plausible, but the dialogue assigned to the characters undermines those attempts. There must be an audience for these soap opera films: it is a shame this one couldn't have been better. Grady Harp

canefenterprises I agree with stingseven. This movie is great, and very original I must say. I highly recommended it! Ashley Rose Orr is so good as Carry, she plays the part so good! She'll make you wonder what's wrong with her. She'll make you cry a great deal at the end too. She's able to transmit the emotions beautifully. Penelope Ann Miller was very good too, she plays the role of the widow who is trying to raise her children on her own while others try to intervene in her personal relations. Then there's this poor man that the kids keep playing tricks on him, is so unfair because he's a good guy. But you can see how at the end there are humans with a good heart.

stingseven "Carry Me Home" is an ideal movie for a Sunday afternoon -- a simple plot, characters with simple motivations, no foul language, no sex, laid back and serene in it's mildly quirky way. It's full of country ideals and charm, and the violin-led background music does a great job of setting place and mood.Strong performances from Penelope Ann Miller does complex emotions so well, and David Alan Rasche is a charming but empty suitor, Ashley Rose Orr is a find as tormented Carrie. Jane Alexander is a bit wasted as a gossiping society matron.Clearly, the penultimate performance of this film is Kevin Anderson, who's mentally-challenged Charlie somehow becomes the emotional fulcrum of the film. Charlie is not just a character of woe and pity, as is usually represented, but also one of rage and an eagerness to be loved. Anderson can do more with a facial expression than most actors can do with a page of dialogue. The last 15 minutes will generate plenty of tears, and the moments just keep on coming.I was left feeling a bit emotionally drained when all was said and done. How rare is it to find a movie that makes you feel anything?