3.5 stars out of 5
My thought process on deciding to see this movie, which from the trailer looked, you know, dusty and not that interesting: 1) I’m a fan of Matt Damon and he usually chooses quality projects. 2) Oh, it was directed by Tom McCarthy, who I love: The Station Agent, The Visitor, Win Win, Spotlight. 3) There are apparently some similarities to the Amanda Knox story. Foxy Knoxy — count me in!
The “purely coincidental” backstory that kicks off the plot: An American student overseas is accused of murdering her roommate, claims innocence, is jailed, and the case garners media attention. But that’s where fiction takes over. Damon plays her widowed dad, a good ol’ boy (good oil boy?) from Oklahoma, bit of a fuck up, who regularly travels to France to visit his daughter and try to get her sprung. Damon wears a baseball cap, plaid shirt, and jeans, sports a goatee, and prays before every Subway takeout meal at Le Best Western. Yes, he utters the words “fake news” and sidesteps a question about voting for Trump — he couldn’t vote because he has a criminal record. It’s quite a stretch for our man Damon but he pulls it off realistically, adding — if not his trademark likability — a lonely, understandable quality to the character.
The movie also attempts to stay within the bounds of believability and so, despite Damon losing faith with the authorities and taking on the investigation himself, and just a little bit of punching and kicking, he never goes full Jason Bourne.
However, it’s also not what I’d describe as an enjoyable movie. The film is character- and relationship-driven: The tension between Damon and his daughter, a convincingly trashy, angry, hopeless Abigail Breslin. The warm “family” dynamic Damon forms with the single mom and young daughter who he crashes with. The friendship that develops between Damon and the little girl is really sweet, and of course sadly reflects the bond he never created with his own daughter.
This is not Tom McCarthy’s best film, but also not his worst (I have never seen The Cobbler). If you like low-key, slow-paced whodunnits, there aren’t many ripples in this Stillwater. But Damon more than keeps it afloat.
Jack Silbert, curator