Review: "Nebraska"

Director: Alexander Payne
Runtime: 115 minutes

Like the state from which it derives its title, Nebraska is a pleasant experience that lacks anything worth stopping for on your way through. Director Alexander Payne's follow-up to The Descendants is an amiable, bittersweet family comedy that turns its overwhelming slightness into an advantage. While it may not have attention-grabbing stars or subject matter, Payne's latest is another comfortably executed dramedy, even though it's hardly essential viewing for anyone but Payne's biggest fans.

The opening shots of Nebraska show Woody Grant (Bruce Dern) hobbling along on foot in his hometown of Billings, Montana to the state of Nebraska. He's on his way to claim a (bogus) reward of $1 million, much to the frustration of his sons David (Will Forte) and Ross (Bob Odenkirk), and his wife Kate (June Squibb). Rather than dwell on the reasons for Woody's determination, Bob Nelson's script has David give in to the idea of propping up Woody's fantasy for a few days. This gives the film an early chance to jump to the bulk of its limited story, set among Woody's relatives in his hometown in Nebraska. 

And, try as David (and eventually Ross and Kate) may, no one else in the family wants to give up the idea that Woody has suddenly become a millionaire. Like a group of cuddly, wrinkly parasites, the Grant family starts cozying up to Woody in hopes that they can get some of the winnings. Folks outside of the family, like Woody's old business partner Ed (Stacy Keach), are less pleasant about it. David remains uneasy during the entire journey, while Woody nods along, too worn down and generous to say 'no' to anyone.

Even though it's tempting to nag and ask why David never cuts the journey short, Payne and Nelson make the open-ended journey a pleasant one. Though the film was hit with claims of patronizing its mid-Western characters, there are enough little details that give the ensemble enough plausible humanity. Some, like a pair of David's creepy cousins, are broader than others, but Payne's simple direction keeps things from sliding into cheap mockery. The films's vision of its setting is best encapsulated in a lengthy shot of the men in the family sitting, stone faced, as they watch TV and make conversation that would barely pass as small talk. 

When Nebraska arrives at scenes like this, it can be enormously entertaining. Despite the tinge of melancholy inherent in the premise, there are any number of laugh out loud scenes, many of which come from Squibb as the feisty, unfiltered Kate. With so much glum small talk and sinister sucking up, Kate's interjections enliven the film and provide Nebraska with its high points. 

What keeps Nebraska from being a more memorable addition to Payne's resume is the work from the film's pair of leads. Forte, known for his outrageous Saturday Night Live characters, is effectively understated. There are hints in the performance that he's capable of mining even richer characterization if given stronger material. Dern, meanwhile, is reduced to being distant and occasionally crotchety. In a year with any number of powerful, dynamic male performances, it's puzzling that Dern has gathered such acclaim, even picking up the Best Actor prize at Cannes earlier this year. 

Once the film arrives at its conclusion, and all of the emotional secrets are dragged out into the sunlight, you can already feel it evaporating. Woody's determination is so single-minded and lacking in interesting angles or details that he becomes a mere sounding board, rarely able to throw anything back. The role is passive to a fault. Just as Woody sits around while others talk, bicker, and scheme, Dern mostly sits and nods while others act. With such a paper-thin core, it's no wonder that Nebraska doesn't linger on the mind once the credits roll. Whether this or not this ends up being a transitional film for Payne, it's also an unquestionably unmemorable, albeit enjoyable, outing. 

Grade: B- 

2011 DGA Nominations: And the race gets weirder...

As many critics awards as their are across the nation, at the end of the day it's really the guild awards that act as better indicators of who's winning AMPAS' favor, especially in a year as uncertain as 2011. We certainly saw that last year when The Social Network won just about everything under the sun, until The King's Speech trounced it at the guild awards and on Oscar night. The SAG, PGA, and WGA have all announced their nominees, leaving only the Director's Guild. And with their nominees, they've thrown a wrench into some Oscar campaigns, while giving others a boost.

The Nominees:

Woody Allen - Midnight in Paris

David Fincher - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Michel Hazanvicius - The Artist

Alexander Payne - The Descendants

Martin Scorcese - Hugo

Who got a boost: The biggest winner after today has to be Fincher and Dragon Tattoo as a whole. Ever since the first screenings, the film was being labeled as one that would make little to no contribution to the awards race. In the past few weeks the film has scored with the PGA and WGA, and the DGA nod is just icing on the cake. For the film to miss out on a Best Picture nomination and/or Best Director nomination is becoming increasingly unlikely. Star Rooney Mara may have missed with the SAG, but could still end up as a surprise Best Actress nominee, as one of many nominations the film looks likely to score now. So even though Dragon Tattoo isn't necessarily a threat to win the top prize, at the very least it can consider itself a strong contender, which is quite to comeback considering all of the doubters.

Then there's Woody Allen and Alexander Payne. Payne's film has generally stood a better shot, but there was always the chance that he would get pushed out by contenders with "bigger" films. After today, though, he's become even more of a sure thing, though the actual win is doubtful. The same goes for Allen, who could score his first Best Director nomination since Bullets Over Broadway (1994). If either of these two men takes the DGA prize, however, it will only serve to further upset the Best Director race.

Who took a hit: Unlike Woody Allen, whose film also launched in early summer, Terrence Malick was allowed any love from the DGA, or any major guild for that matter. Considering the divisive nature of Malick's film, however, it's not entirely surprising. Drive's Nicholas Winding-Refn and War Horse's Steven Spielberg, however, should probably not get their hopes up for the remainder of awards season. I'm sure Refn had a fan base within the DGA for Drive, but at the end of the day the voters favored established names (well, aside from Spielberg). Of course, there's always room for surprises come Nomination morning, but knowing the DGA's close alignment with the Academy, I suspect the chances for the above-mentioned trio are at long last dead. Such a shame...at least for the first two. War Horse has, to be honest, felt like nothing but an afterthought and an obligation rather than a legitimate contender.

Review: "The Descendants"

Alexander Payne's The Descendants may be set on the lush islands of Hawaii, but the journey that the film takes us on is anything but a vacation. Quite the opposite; the road is pretty rough. But even though the territory that Payne is navigating is generally familiar (one major plot thread requires zero effort to guess its outcome), the journey, even at its leisurely (though never sluggish) pace is worth taking. The film, one of the director's kinder, less bitter projects, is a far cry from Payne's best work, possibly his least interesting, but it is strong enough to warrant a look from casual movie-goers and hardcore cinephiles alike.

Adapted from Kaui Hart Hemmings' novel of the same name, Payne's film centers around Matt King (George Clooney), a father struggling to manage his family after his wife gets injured in a boating accident. In addition to receiving constant trouble from his daughters Alex (Shailene Woodley) and Scottie (Amara Miller), Matt has to deal with the revelation that his wife may have had an affair. For all of the drama on the surface, however, The Descendants packs a surprising amount of humor, which helps the somewhat familiar character and story arcs easier to get through.

The biggest obstacle that the film has, familiarity aside, lies in its opening. Rather than establish Matt's character through real interactions with other people, the opening stretch is flooded with his narration while we watch (but don't hear) him sit at his desk, eat lunch, and meet with family members. It's an off-putting way to open the story, especially when the film completely drops the narration after the opening scenes. Consequently, the opening is also where the characters, even the protagonist, are the least interesting, and the film feels the most mundane. Thankfully, once The Descendants trudges through this, the film only gets stronger, even if it never quite makes its mark as anything spectacular.

All in all, this is a showcase for Clooney, whose work here is worth the price of admission. Less concerned with maintaining his movie-star looks and image the past few years, the actor is starting to settle more and more into characters who are less similar to, well, George Clooney. The role of Matt isn't necessarily some radical departure from the slick, suave characters Clooney usually plays, but at the very least, it allows the actor some room to truly distance himself from his star persona, and sell the role based on more than mere charisma. Once he's given more to do than narrate, Clooney is able to actually dig his teeth into the role, and the result is one of the actor's strongest performances to date, despite the role's relatively straightforward characterization. But even though Clooney is the film's biggest asset, the rest of the cast certainly pulls their weight. That is, when they're actually given enough to do. The closest the film has to a major supporting role is Woodley's Alex, Matt's older daughter who tells him about the possible affair. The actress, previously known for TV's The Secret Life of the American Teenager (AKA the show that featured a high profile guest part for an android, er, Bristol Palin) makes quite the leap in quality here. Maybe it's Payne's way of working with his actors, or her strong father-daughter chemistry with Clooney; either way, the film proves that Woodley is capable of much more than teen soap opera-level acting.

Other small roles, filled out by the likes of Beau Bridges (no, not the one with the Oscar; the other one), Matthew Lillard, and Judy Greer, who really ought to be getting larger, more substantial parts at this point in her career, are also handled well. However, the film dwells so little on them that they rarely get a chance to make much of an impression. Payne seems to want to cover quite a few bases, yet still orient the film entirely around Matt's perspective, which hinders his ability to make the whole ensemble (aside from Alex) fully rounded. Then there's Sid (Nick Krause), Alex's older, dopey friend who comes along for the ride for reasons Payne doesn't seem interested in justifying. At first used for solid comedic effect, Payne finally gives the character more to work with in one nicely handled scene opposite Matt. However, once this scene is over, the character is sidelined for the rest of the film, which makes you wonder why they bothered in the first place.

That seems like a lot of issues to take with the film, but rest assured there's still plenty to like here outside of Clooney and Woodley. The film's trickiest obstacle, mixing elements of tragedy, dysfunction, and comedy, is actually pretty remarkable considering the specifics of the plot. Only once does a transition between drama and comedy come off as awkward, and the awkwardness is little more than fleeting. And however familiar the arcs may be, there's no denying that they've at least been executed well. Payne may not have made any revelatory statements about family relationships, but at the very least he's pulled them off with a level of maturity and sincerity that rises above syrupy Hollywood sentimentality. This makes for a good film, but not quite a great one (which it very well could have been). What it all comes down to in the end is that, writing issues aside, is that The Descendants lacks any real surprises. For all that's done well, which is quite a bit, the film's overall impact feels muted because there's nothing outside of the lead performance that feels like anything to write home about. The Descendants represents a nicer, more accessible Alexander Payne, but also a less interesting Alexander Payne.

Grade: B