Internet Movie Database Movie Reviews
An elderly man gets junk mail saying that he has won a million dollars and is determined to go to Lincoln, Nebraska (from Montana) to claim it.
This got great word of mouth- everyone on the interwebs was talking about it, praising it to the skies. I have always liked Bruce Dern, and it sounded interesting, so when I saw it on a cart at my library, I picked it up.
Look, Mr. Otter, I said, I brought this home. And he, too was interested, so we made time for it.
And we were so glad we did.
Bruce Dern plays a querulous aging parent who is fixated on one thing and not willing to give up control of his life. When he starts walking to Nebraska, his son brings him back, then realizes that humoring him is a better idea, and agrees to drive him, stopping at a relative’s house along the way.
This movie was a gem. It’s very appropriately filmed in black and white, with stark visions of the midwest, and the towns and people that are there. Mr. Otter and I are taking a road trip through the midwest this year and we kept saying, We’re going to see that! oh my god, does it really look like that? and chuckling. Because we know it really does.
The actors were so good, the cinematography was lovely, the script was terse and to-the-point (my favorite scene was the seven guys in a room watching baseball and exchanging monosyllables by way of conversation, all the while never taking their eyes off the TV. Oh, and the criminal cousins, what a hoot.
And the ending is totally worthy of the rest of the movie.
This one was a treat, watch it if you haven’t yet. Especially if you have relatives who are either elderly, in the midwest, or both…
theotterlimits 