Tag Archives: Bob Nelson

Nebraska Movie Review

Featuring: Bruce Dern, June Squibb, Will Forte, Bob Odenkirk, Stacy Keach, Devin Ratray, Tim Driscoll
Director: Alexander Payne
Writer: Bob Nelson
Movie website: www.paramount.com/movies/nebraska
Australian release date: Thursday, 20 Feb

Reviewers’ verdicts:
rolanstein: A beautifully written and performed dramedy, wryly funny in its bleak assessment of America’s small-town mid-west.
Karen: Beautifully rendered shmaltz.

Story:
Old-timer of few words Woody (Bruce Dern) receives a marketing letter with a million dollar prize enticement, which he misinterprets as notification that he has won. His family cannot convince him otherwise or dissuade him from the folly of travelling from their home in Montana to the marketing company’s office in Lincoln, Nebraska to pick up his prize. Son Dave (Will Forte) finally offers to drive him, which opens the opportunity for a family reunion en route in the small town in which Woody and his wife (June Squibb) grew up. Word soon gets around among the long-term locals that Woody has returned a millionaire, which has a catalytic effect in exposing the duplicity and greed lurking beneath the sleepy and seemingly benign facade of the town. In coming up against his past, Woody’s sons discover surprising sides to their taciturn father.


Review 1: (rolanstein)
Like the octogenarian lead character, Woody, and the decaying small town he hails from, this deceptively modest and frequently chuckleworthy little film has a lot more going on beneath its surface than meets the eye. Continue reading Nebraska Movie Review