It’s been less than two years since Alexander Payne scored his second Academy Award for The Descendants, but he’s already circling for another round of awards buzz with his latest feature Nebraska.
Bruce Dern leads as Woody Grant, an elderly man determined to make it to Lincoln, Nebraska so he can pick up the million-dollar prize he thinks he won in a marketing campaign. His son David (Will Forte) tries to convince him the letter is just a scam, but Woody is relentless. Even though his mother (June Squibb) and brother (Bob Odenkirk) protest, David decides to ride the scenario out for the sake of Woody’s mental and emotional stability, and drives him from Montana to Nebraska.
Even though Payne hits it big yet again by achieving notably natural performances and a combination of comedy and drama that produces beautifully bittersweet results, he also treads into unfamiliar territory because Nebraska is shot entirely in black and white.
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“Nebraska” is packed with hilarious material, but it’s all rooted in a brutally candid presentation of old age, resulting in a unique and especially thoughtful union of quirky comedy and honesty.
Vegetarians beware; if Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 ever becomes a reality, you’ll have absolutely nothing to eat.
Original plots don’t even seem to do the trick anymore. Whether the movie’s about an alien invasion, a hotel robbery, babysitting bad kids or a disastrous couples retreat, we wind up with a tiresome tone and jokes that feel awfully familiar. Lucky for Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn and Jonah Hill, their standard is slightly elevated by a stellar somewhat new find, Richard Ayoade.
You know what A Good Old Fashioned Orgy reminds me of? Summer camp. Okay, clearly orgy and kids’ camp don’t really go together; it’s more of the combination of summertime and a group of friends getting together to enjoy some shenanigans. Rather than a pool party with sparklers à la Camp Nowhere, the A Good Old Fashioned Orgy characters enjoy drinking themselves into oblivion and planning a night packed with group sex. While I’ll never grow out of Camp Nowhere, there’s certainly room for more adult debauchery and A Good Old Fashioned Orgy fills that void in the best way possible.