Movie Review: Nebraska

3 stars out of 5

Maybe my expectations were too high. Way too high.

Alexander Payne is one of my favorite filmmakers. About Schmidt, Sideways, The Descendants: love ’em. Plus the ideas behind this one: old guy, road trip, hard times in small-town America. Add in the unorthodox casting of Will Forte, and that it’s shot in black-and-white fer crissakes—Nebraska was practically made for me.

So why was I generally unmoved? I’m still trying to sort that out.

It’s certainly not the look of the movie. Visually, this might be the best film of the year. You want to hand an Oscar to the cinematographer? I won’t complain. Nebraska is achingly beautiful: the lighting, the angle choices, the weary old towns and wide-open prairies. Sometimes there’s almost a noir feel and that works too.

I guess I wanted the tone to match that spare-and-lonesome look. For me, it just didn’t.

I’m going to split the blame between Payne and writer Bob Nelson. Who? What I didn’t realize till right now is that Payne wrote (or co-wrote) his previous movies that I loved. On Nebraska, he hands over the reins to Bob Nelson, whoever the hell that is. And I don’t think Nelson was up to the task.

You’re familiar with “show, don’t tell”? Bob Nelson isn’t. So we get a lot of Statements and also very much Explaining.

It was jarring. From the opening frames, Nebraska felt so real. I wanted to be walking along the interstate with bedraggled Bruce Dern. I wanted to live in this world. But then people started talking (“He drinks too much.” “He trusts people too much.”) and the spell was broken.

Also, there’s a weird blend of comedy and drama in this film. Now, I like jokes and funny things, you know that about me. But this seemed like the sort of movie where humor would arise gently out of true-life situations. Instead it is often just too broad. Didn’t feel right.

Of course, top-flight actors can frequently elevate substandard material. This is where I have to give Payne some grief. His actors just weren’t getting it done. Yeah, I know, Bruce Dern, best actor at Cannes, yadda yadda. He’s good, he’s real good. There’s a genuine sadness in his portrayal, and a quiet determination. But is he the best actor of the year? I tend to doubt it. (And also I shouldn’t listen to any more interviews with Laura Dern because as awesome as I think she is, I think the real Laura might be a little batty and annoying. But I digress.)

Then there’s June Squibb as Dern’s wife. She was terrific a few days ago on HBO’s Getting On, as a loony, angry old patient. Here, she just READS HER LINES, LOUDLY, and I’m thinking, that’s not how actual people talk. Payne, get in there and do some directing.

Will Forte gets the job done but isn’t a revelation. Stacy Keach is saddled with a clichéd blowhard bad-guy character and can’t do any more with it. And then there seem to be a whole lot of non-actors cast in fairly prominent roles. Non-actors look like real people but they don’t sound like real people. There’s no subtlety. You can almost feel the script.

I wanted to like this movie so much. I was prepared for it to be one of my favorites of the year. Maybe the favorite. And there is a lot to admire, and many really nice moments. But overall, Nebraska just didn’t ring true. And at the end of the day, that’s really all I want from a movie.