A new bio-series about the country singers George Jones and Tammy Wynette could feel less like an original release than an uninspired hits compilation. There are sweet melodies, bitter fights, all-consuming passions, debilitating addictions and fluctuating professional fortunes — all narrative lines that other music dramas have walked before.
Still, the reason to watch George & Tammy (streaming on Paramount Plus) is not the actual plot. Rather, it can be found in the electrifying moments in which all the background noise (and mellifluous soundtrack) gives way to the raw, in-the-moment intensity cultivated by Jessica Chastain and Michael Shannon as the titular couple.
The fact that the two actors have already starred as husband and wife (in the excellent 2011 indie thriller Take Shelter) may go some way towards explaining their chemistry. That it’s immediately palpable is crucial to this story which begins with a major, spontaneous life choice born of instinct and attraction.
When the two meet, Wynette is a rising star in Nashville who gets an opportunity to open for the fading legend Jones with her boorish, self-promoting songwriter husband Don (Pat Healy). But the sparks that emerge in flirtatious pre-show chats and soulful onstage duets ignite an irrepressible love (or, at the very least, lust). At a dinner soon after, Jones impishly starts provoking Don by humming Wynette’s recent hit song “D-I-V-O-R-C-E”. Tensions flare and the meal ends with Wynette — whose other major track is “Stand By Your Man” — running away with George for good.
The rush of that scene is disappointingly not matched by what follows, which exchanges charged feelings for melodrama. But if the storytelling becomes heavy-handed, the performances remain easy on the eye (and ear). Chastain’s Wynette is both beguiling and beset with deep-seated sadness, while Shannon is convincing as a mercurial soul and violent drunk.
“You have to live a song to make it good,” says Wynette at one point. It’s a maxim that both actors seem to apply to their own stellar performances.
★★★☆☆
Streaming on Paramount Plus from December 5. New episodes air weekly
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