Verdict: David Lynch shifts gears in this lyrical miracle of a film about a man and his John Deere riding mower.

Details: Starring Richard Farnsworth and Sissy Spacek. Directed by David Lynch. Rated G. At metro theaters. 1 hour, 41 minutes.

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Review: The only twisted thing about "The Straight Story" is that this lyrically simple little film was directed by David Lynch.

Yes, that David Lynch, the one who's given us everything from dancing dwarfs in "Twin Peaks" to a whacked-out Dennis Hopper in "Blue Velvet." And here's the kicker: This G-rated movie is being presented by Walt Disney. Yes, that Walt Disney, the one who has given us everything from Bambi to a young Annette Funicello.

Based on actual events, "The Straight Story" is, quite literally, the Straight story. The story of one Alvin Straight (Richard Farnsworth), a senior citizen living in Iowa with his somewhat mentally challenged daughter (a delicately balanced portrayal by Sissy Spacek). Alvin has bad eyes, bad hips (he needs two canes to walk) and, as we learn throughout the picture, a bad past as hotblooded as that of any country-boy hell-raiser.

But when he hears that his brother Lyle (Harry Dean Stanton) has had a stroke, Alvin is determined to see him. Even if he lives 300 miles away in Wisconsin. Even if the two haven't spoken in 10 years. Even if Alvin no longer has a driver's licence. Instead, he hitches up a 1966 John Deere riding mower to a handmade rig filled with the essentials (wieners, two folding chairs) and embarks on his own personal quest.

As quests go, this one's about as quixotic as they get. Alvin never tilts at windmills, but he has plenty of strange encounters along the way. A pregnant teenage runaway. Bickering twin mechanics. An animal-loving hysteric whose Sisyphean fate is to run into a deer every time she drives down the same stretch of highway.

Much like such fabled wandering predecessors as Michael Landon's angel or David Janssen's fugitive, Alvin leaves trickles of good-hearted wisdom wherever he goes. However, in this movie, he gets as much as he gives. The kindness of strangers greets him at almost every turn. Traveling through the heartland at 5 mph, he finds the heart of its people.

Don't bother looking for a severed ear in someone's well-tended yard or any of the usual Lynch extremes. He isn't the least bit glib or ironic about Alvin's journey. Rather, his movie is a leisurely yet sublime celebration of America at its most beautiful — kind, welcoming and yet gloriously individualistic. True, the filmmaker may be a little too bicoastally enamored of the just-folksiness of plain ol' Middle Americans. Still, his rapture and sense of appreciative discovery is infectious. As is the twinkle in Farnsworth's bluer-than-Newman eyes.

With its harvest-home imagery and simple gift of God's grace as manifested in the good will of others, "The Straight Story" is really the perfect Thanksgiving movie.

It's a kind of American benediction. David Lynch style, of course.

— Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, Cox News Service