Kill Someone and Your Name is "Mud"

Ah, the life of a hobo...

The Story:

Ellis (Tye Sheridan) and Neckbone (Jacob Lofland) are two 14 year olds living near the Mississippi River in Arkansas.  They discover a boat suspended in the trees on an island and are going to make it their boat.  Until it turns out it's already been claimed by a drifter named Mud (Matthew McConaughey) who enlists the duo in helping him fix the boat so he can escape some bounty hunters with the love of his life (Reese Witherspoon).

Hmm.

I'm not sure what to think about this one.

It's not bad, per se.

It's also not great.

I've heard critics rave that it was the best Matthew McConaughey performance in years, until his next one comes out.  The problem with that theory, is that I've almost always enjoyed his movies, so he's always had a good performance.  Sometimes he's the best part of some movies.

I'm not sure if that's the case here, he certainly does a good job, but so does the entire cast.

The problem, it is a slow paced movie that builds towards the end.

And when movies clock in over 2 hours... most people don't want to invest that much time in them.

This one, I did watch through the whole film, and while tempted to speed it up, I let it run.  I did tinker with a  few things while watching, but this is a movie you don't have to have your eyes on the screen at all times to know what's going on.

Written and directed by Jeff Nichols, I don't know if this, or Take Shelter would be considered his "big breakthrough" film.  Certainly I heard more about that one, but having watched the last half of that movie...

I absolutely hated it.  Terrible ending.

So naturally, I wasn't in any hurry to jump into this one.

Thankfully, this was much better.

I'll give Nichols credit, he can assemble a great cast from top to bottom.

The main problem, he's got a lot of great actors, all with 5 minutes of screen time.

Reese Witherspoon?  Ladies, if you were hoping for a romantic entanglement between the two, you're going to be disappointed.  The part could have, and likely should have, been played by any female actress.  Give an unknown or lesser-known a shot.

Michael Shannon, Nichols' go to guy... if he had more than 5 minutes on-screen, that's being generous.

Thankfully, Sam Shepard fares better as the mysterious stranger who loves Mud like a son, and has to make some tough love decisions.

Really, the movie is a tour-de-force for the 2 kids who do a great job being at the center of the movie.  This is their "Stand by Me" moment, and if they want to stick around in Hollywood, their feet are firmly in the door at this point.

So there you go.

It's a drama, and unless you're a Drama named "Shawshank Redemption" you'll likely only get so much praise around these parts. ;)

I will give kudos for the 3rd Act creating a genuine "Jump Moment" normally reserved for horror movies. 

Wasn't expecting it, well done.

Final Grade: C+

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: Nope, not a high demand for dramas, especially really long ones.