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I Saw the Light

I Saw the Light

  • Status: Released
  • 05-02-2016
  • Runtime: 123 min
  • Score: 6.3
  • Vote count: 206

Singer and songwriter Hank Williams rises to fame in the 1940s, but alcohol abuse and infidelity take a toll on his career and marriage to fellow musician Audrey Mae Williams.

Tom Hiddleston

Hank Williams

Elizabeth Olsen

Audrey Mae Williams

Wayne Pére

Toby Marshall

David Krumholtz

James Dolan

Wrenn Schmidt

Bobbie Jett

Bradley Whitford

Fred Rose

Josh Pais

Dore Schary

Cherry Jones

Lillie Williams

James DuMont

WB Nowlin

Joe Chrest

Oscar Davis

Charlie Talbert

Cliff Rogers

Maddie Hasson

Billie Jean

Candice Harrison

Roadhouse Patron

Cory Hart

Back Pain Doctor

NM Garcia

Ryman Auditorium / Cow Coliseum Gal

Caroline Hebert

Ellie

Justin Lebrun

Concert attendant

Casey Bond

Jerry Rivers

Joshua Brady

Sammy Pruett

Elliott Grey

Banker

Emily Marie Palmer

Vanessa Amaya

Jeff Caperton

Campbell

Erica Curtis

Jayson Warner Smith

Hank Snow

Bethany Blakey

Female passerby

Denise Gossett

Mrs. Jones

Christopher Heskey

StageHand Supervisor

Gary Teague

Pedestrian

Skyler Davenport

Hospital Nurse / MGM Pedestrian

Allison Claye

Concert goer

Rebecca Chulew

Performer / Hotel Bar Patron

Douglas M. Griffin

Howard Pill

Mattie Liptak

Charles Carr

Jillian Batherson

Bar Woman

Gretchen Koerner

Bar Waitress

Bryan Michael Hall

Musician

Richard Jackson

Boyette

Amanda Joy Erickson

Patron

Cody Daniel

Ronald

Deadra Moore

Mrs. Ragland

Joe Manco

NYC Pedestrian (uncredited)

CinemaSerf

In theory this had loads to recommend it. A young man who captivated the USA with his music, an handsome and charismatically flawed gent who lived his life to the full, philandered, cheated and drank... How, then, did Marc Abraham manage to turn all that into a stodgy television movie? The ever easy on the eye Tom Hiddleston takes the title role and does precisely nothing with it. His mimicry of the style of performing - that slightly chicken-strutting jig he did whilst singing, works well enough but otherwise this is a shallow and lacklustre characterisation. Williams could never have been called a loyal man and the women who featured prominently here - wife Audrey (Elisabeth Olsen), Bobbie (Wrenn Schmidt) and Billie Jean (Maddie Hasson) have precious little to work with to add much depth to this puddle of a biopic. It has a go at creating a documentary feel to it, incorporating some monochrome (and monotone) contributions from Bradey Whitford's version of producer Fred Rose and there is plenty of toe-tapping - especially the fiddlers, but at just over the two hour mark this is a ponderously feeble effort to enliven a man by an actor who spent way too much time in wardrobe and nowhere near enough trying to imbue the subject with personality. "Walk the Line" (2005) it isn't.