Maybe the only way to play Cash adequately is to be, on the surface, all wrong for the part. Phoenix, with his narrow shoulders and lithe build, is the wrong body type to play Cash -- even the young Cash. And he bravely sings Cash's songs himself, in a voice that gamely struts the territory and yet has one crucial, unforgivable drawback: It just isn't Cash's.
But this is a remarkable performance, not because Phoenix pulls off, or even attempts, an approximation of Cash but because he manages to embody the spirit of Cash. ...
Witherspoon has taken far too many roles that allow her to coast on her tart cuteness ; this is the first one she's had in years that seems to have genuinely challenged her. Witherspoon's Carter meets Phoenix's Cash in an impressionistic middle ground that has some resemblance to reality, without feeling like a desperate attempt to re-create it.