Call it a heavy family drama, or maybe a Southern-fried, displaced-person comedy. At times, director Phil Morrison doesn't seem so sure himself.

Robert Kirk Embeth Davidtz, left, and Alessandro Nivola star in "Junebug." Click photo for larger image. "Junebug" Rating: R for sexual content and language. Starring: Embeth Davidtz, Amy Adams. Director: Phil Morrison. "Junebug" Web site

That's part of the charm of "Junebug." It's both and it's neither, as likely to make you laugh as it is to bring tears to your eyes.

Embeth Davidtz ("Schindler's List," "Bridget Jones's Diary") stars as Madeleine, a sophisticated Chicago art dealer who has recently married a younger Southern beau. Her passionate desire to represent a quirky backwoods artist leads her and her husband to spend a few days with his North Carolina family.

The culture-shock runs both ways. When "Junebug" is funny, it's because the Southerners' perceptions and values grate against those of their Northern guest. The film's heaviest moments are the result of incompatible family values. When "Junebug" succeeds, it's because of the sensitive portrayal of small-town people locked into lives smaller than what they'd aspired to.

Davidtz gives Madeleine a smart and endearing personality that can seem equally cold and self-absorbed. She's the movie's keystone: Every other character is evaluated in light of the ways in which they interact with and try to understand her.

Amy Adams effervesces with energy as Madeleine's pregnant, lonely, childlike sister-in-law. This film could be her springboard to bigger and better things. "The O.C.'s" Benjamin McKenzie is two-dimensional in a mostly flat role as the bitter, violence-prone son of a caustically dysfunctional family. Celia Weston has more to work with as the manipulative, culturally intolerant mother. Scott Wilson and Alessandro Nivola are solid in roles that show a more positive side of the family, and Frank Hoyt Taylor is great as the colorful, eccentric artist.

Director Morrison has a background in music videos, and did one 18-minute short with "Junebug" screenwriter Angus MacLachlan. His inexperience shows in static, boring-angle shots that should have been used to help create the Southern ambience and articulate family relationships.