Review: Nebraska

Bruce Dern is a taciturn, hard-drinking old coot who thinks he’s just won a million dollars but doesn’t see the fine print on the Sweepstakes notice. He’s headed to Lincoln, Nebraska from Montana to get his million dollars goddamn it. His well-meaning, long-suffering son (Will Forte) tries to convince dad that it’s all a scam, but the stubborn, ornery man will have none of it. So he decides the best thing he can do is drive his father (who has never been much good to him) to the company HQ so that he doesn’t wander off aimlessly on his own. Thus begins the most awkward and uncommunicative road trip of the year. Along the way they stop off at dad’s former neighbourhood, where everyone in the small-town quickly hears of his ‘winnings’ and tries to take their piece from the gullible old man. Meanwhile, Forte begins to learn about his old man and just what made him the way he is. June Squibb plays Dern’s outspoken wife, a sharp-tongued opposite to the rather anti-social Dern, and also far more observant. Rance Howard plays Dern’s older brother, Bob Odenkirk is Forte’s older brother, and Stacy Keach is the small-town jerk who thinks Dern still owes him money from a long time ago and plans on collecting now that Dern is supposedly rich.

 

I found the previous Alexander Payne film “The Descendants” incredibly overrated and extremely disappointing. It was real sitcom/TV drama stuff unworthy of the praise and accolades it earned. Payne (whose “About Schmidt” was terrific, and both “Sideways” and “Election” were solid) gets back in my good graces with this 2013 flick, scripted by Bob Nelson (whose only real prior credit of note was 4 episodes of a late 90s sitcom with Magic Johnson and Tyra Banks!). It’s not quite on the level of “About Schmidt”, but not far behind. It’s beautifully made and acted, and clearly one of the ten best films of a pretty darn good year. Like the characters played by Oscar nominees Bruce Dern (in his best performance since his previous Oscar nom in 1978’s “Coming Home”) and June Squibb (as a very different wife from the one in “About Schmidt”), it’s ornery, taciturn, hilarious, and kinda beautiful.

 

I’m not real keen on the plot being anchored on a million dollar sweepstakes deal, which sounds silly and old hat. However, there’s a whole lot more substance to this than was in “The Decendants”, and a few less clichés in the plot too. The ornery bunch of small-town characters are also really terrific, in a sour kinda way. The mixture of old-school ‘A Paramount Release’ logo (from the 50s and 60s) and Midwestern setting lensed in beautiful B&W by Phedon Papamichael (“Identity” and the bright spot of “The Descendants”) might trick you into thinking you’re watching a 70s Peter Bogdanovich (“The Last Picture Show” will spring to mind, most likely) or Robert Altman movie, until you see that Bruce Dern sure as shit does look old and a whole lot heftier than he did in the 70s. It might at first seem odd to shoot the Midwest countryside in B&W, but it’s a taciturn film about taciturn people, so colour would be pretty inappropriate I think. This one’s grey & grey, really, and that suits the film perfectly. The harshness of everyone and everything here has its own kind of beauty.

 

Bruce Dern is his usual Dern self here (I’m one of the few who loved Jim Carrey’s dead-on impersonation at the Oscars, by the way), perfectly ornery and from interviews I’ve read of his over the years, I’m not even sure he’s acting. Matthew McConaughey probably deserved his Oscar, but Dern’s in great form here, so it’s a shame it had to be released the same year as “Dallas Buyers Club”. It’s one of his best roles and most artistically-minded films ever. The wonderful thing about Dern is that everything he says comes across as annoyed and serious…even when he’s actually joking. If you ask me, a film with someone stuck in a car with Bruce Dern on a long trip has endless comedic possibilities. His reaction to seeing Mt. Rushmore is priceless, and if I’m being honest, close to my own views on sight-seeing in general. OK, we’ve seen it…moving on. 40 years from now, if I make it that far, I’m gonna be this guy, I think.

 

June Squibb is excellent as Dern’s very blunt wife, a real salt of the earth woman if ever there was one. Unlike “About Schmidt” she actually gets to stick around in this one and makes every moment count. She’s almost cuddly in that grandmotherly way…until she starts berating Dern or lifting her dress at one very choice moment that may on its own have earned her an Oscar nomination. She comes very, very close to stealing the film from Dern. There’s solid support from comedians Will Forte and Bob Odenkirk, as well as smaller gems from Stacy Keach (who, like Dern has packed on the pounds, but unlike Dern was never that thin to begin with) and Rance Howard. Forte is a completely useless comedian (one of the all-time worst “SNL” comedians) but proves low-key drama might be a better fit for him, and the long-faced actor plays off very well against the crotchety Dern. Odenkirk is pretty good as the slightly more successful brother, too. Stacy Keach, meanwhile, is always good value as an old acquaintance of Dern’s with a score to settle. He gets one of the funniest moments in the film, immediately hilarious singing ‘In the Ghetto’ at karaoke, really, really badly. Rance Howard, Ron’s dad, has one of his best parts as Dern’s brother, who is just as incommunicative, but not quite as grouchy.

 

If you love Bruce Dern, this movie’s for you. It’s a prickly sonofabitch about a prickly sonofabitch. Quite unsentimental, occasionally hilarious, and extremely well-acted and well-shot. If you can get past the sweepstakes nonsense, this one’s a real winner with genuine character. It seems to be about real people, albeit people seemingly stuck in an earlier time perhaps (Indeed, some of the cast are non-professionals from the Midwest).

 

Rating: B