Maggie Greenwald's backwoods musical drama has all the makings of a solid indie feature, but the filmmaker goes the heavy-handed route a little too often when a little subtlety might have been more favorable. In the lead roles, Janet McTeer (again beautifully embodying an American) and Aidan Quinn create an intriguing synergy and make a believable romantic duo, but the underlying flourishes provided by Greenwald lessen the overall impact, namely a gay tolerance subplot that is well meaning but eventually anachronistic. The music provided is flavorful and engrossing, and the movie offers up a star-making role for young Emmy Rossum, who not only possesses a gorgeous set of vocal chords, but provides an effective window into the story. The period re-creation is exact and the intentions are admirable, but the movie has an overall lack of momentum, and when all is said and done, it fails to make the richness of the musical tapestry as indelible to the audience as it is to the characters. Songcatcher bowed at the 2000 Sundance Film Festival, where it drew much attention for McTeer's strong performance, but didn't receive U.S. release until over a year later.