Today’s quick review: Mud. While exploring an island near their home, Arkansas teens Ellis (Tye Sheridan) and Neckbone (Jacob Lofland) meet Mud (Matthew McConaughey), a haggard man camping out on the island. Mud talks the boys into bringing him food and supplies while he waits for his girlfriend Juniper (Reese Witherspoon) to meet him. But when the boys discover that Mud is wanted for murder, they must decide whether to stick their necks out for the stranger.
Mud is a coming of age movie set in rural Arkansas. Ellis is a boy who spends his days working with his father and cruising the river with his friend Neckbone. His decision to help Mud puts him in a delicate situation, gambling that Mud is trustworthy in spite of his checkered past. The story deals with themes of uncertain trust, fallible love, and knowing when to keep fighting and when to quit.
Mud excels in its storytelling. The dialogue gradually develops the characters, and the characters shape the direction of the story, all in a very organic way. Ellis and Neckbone make for helpful and resourceful protagonists, while Matthew McConaughey splits the difference between shady and likable in his performance as Mud. The film does a good job of establishing its atmosphere, showing an honest, moody side to rural living.
However, Mud is not for everyone. The movie is a true drama, and while the tone stops a few steps shy of bleak, there are hard lessons to be learned. The story also eschews a conventional story arc in favor of a more natural ebb and flow. The result is a movie where setup and payoff are hard to distinguish and where the drama unfolds bit by bit. Fans of realistic stories will appreciate this choice, but it can be disorienting to those used to Hollywood fiction.
Watch Mud if you are a fan of realistic, character-based drama. Its good dialogue, interesting characters, and solid execution make it worth keeping an eye out for. Those who are not into drama for its own sake may want to give it a pass. The quality is there, but it is invested in a different kind of story. Those looking for a feel-good coming of age adventure should check out Secondhand Lions.
7.4 out of 10 on IMDB. I give it a 7.0 to 7.5 for strong writing, plot, and characters.