Being openly, playfully self-aggrandizing is a big part of Partons charm.
And what happened next?
Coat of Many Colorsisnt really a biopic anyway.
Credit: Jeff Lipsky/NBC
It has all the hallmarks of a generic Nicholas Sparks movie.
Theres a beautiful, old-timey country setting: a farmhouse in Locust Ridge, Tennessee, in 1955.
Theres an emotional scene filmed in slow motion, and an uplifting message about enduring faith.
Theres also a ton of hillbilly cliches.
What counts most is the acting, which lends the story a naturalism that the script cant.
Arent you at all interested in goin to heaven?
her grandfather asks her.
Why sure I am, grandpa!
she says, batting her eyelashes.
But do I have to look like hell to get there?
And Lind delivers them all with the perfect mix of sweetness and sassiness.
Id rather be plain ugly than just plain, she insists earnestly, while praying.
Then again, Id rather be dead than ugly.
Lind also shows incredible range for an 8-year-old.
Thats what you are!
Its a childlike rant, but theres nothing adorable about her rage.
It looks and sounds real.
Partons story might be pure hokum.
But daggum it, some of that hokum aint bad.
