Great Balls of Fire

This movie is about the wildest part of the life of legendary rock and roll star Jerry Lee Lewis and how he got into the real music business.

It is based upon the bestselling book by his teenage wife Myra Lewis.

The movie starts with showing a little of his childhood and then it jumps right to the more grown up part of Jerry Lee's life. In other words, it starts right before he gets his first hit-single "Whole Lotta Shakin'" and a record contract.

The movie shows that he was a wild and often difficult person who had his own opinions and never let other people stop him from doing what he wanted.

Early on in the movie you can see that he is falling in love with his 13 year old cousin, Myra Gale Brown, played by Winona Ryder. The big problem starts when he marries her, because she is underage so it's not long before the English press reveals Myra's true age and the news spreads all over the world.

True to form, he will still not be told how he should live his life and once he's made up his mind he never changed it afterwards. However, the effect it had on his career was massive. You could argue that Jerry Lee may have been even bigger than Elvis if he hadn't married Myra.

The movie is very lively and fast paced, so you never get bored. It tries not to get bogged down in the dark side of the complex situation with Myra and Lewis. Some have complained that, as a result, it is too light, skimming over many of the important details. The important thing here is that it is a movie designed to entertain. I'm sure there will be many documentaries that would be better for an in depth examination of the darker side of this fascinating story.

It's made in a similar way to the great Milos Forman movie "Amadeus" because the story unfolds kinda the same way and it has top notch music and lots of comedy.