A son arrives to pick up a father in a place that a son and father should never plan to meet. He sees his dad, sitting, head in hands, disheveled, confused - but still dad. From that opening, I braced myself against Nebraska, believing that this late-life, father and son road trip might lead too close to home and heart. But Woody Grant (played by Bruce Dern), it turns out, is not my father. In fact, he’s not really much of a father to his now adult sons David (Will Forte) and Ross (Bob Odenkirk) either. But he’s still their father… and he’s convinced he’s about to become a millionaire.
Woody has won a magazine sweepstakes you see. He’s got the letter to prove it. All he has to do is get from Montana to Nebraska to claim the million-dollar prize. And he’s been found more than once walking the freeway out of Billings to Lincoln to do just that. Weary of trying to convince him of the scam, his son asks him why he just doesn’t take the bus if he wants to go so badly. But Woody doesn’t know the answer to that question nor many others - or maybe he just doesn’t want to answer. He’d rather have his son David take him. The passive David is the younger of the two brothers and the one who gets called for when Woody’s aged and drink-riddled mind causes issues. Ross is the older more driven sibling who would rather just put the old man in a home and move on, and the one that reminds his brother that their father never did anything for them and paid more attention to his alcohol than the family. But David relents and gives Woody the ride he’s so desperate for… he’s still his father after all.
The ensuing trip to Lincoln takes the awkward duo through Woody’s past, both physically and mentally. Along the way they run into, or are joined by, the odd branches and twigs of the Grant family, all of whom believe Woody’s tale of treasure and are either eager to congratulate him for his luck or scheming to separate him from his future winnings. The character of this family tree is recounted for us by Grant’s fouled-tongued wife Kate (June Squibb) during a stop in Woody’s old home town. We learn quickly that whatever filters Kate once had between her thoughts and her mouth have long worn away as she airs the dirty laundry of the Grant clan and associates at every opportunity. The story’s pace is slow on the road - low key, and director Alexander Payne gives us plenty of time to study the diverse and sometimes ridiculous characters we meet along the path and to ponder the motivations for their actions. But the Fargo-like askewness that Payne seems to be shooting for here sometimes hits a non-resonant tone with the inane canceling the more poignant and worthwhile parts of the film - is it a darkly-comic caricature or a poetic study of human behavior? - it’s never quite clear from Nebraska's simultaneously bleak and oddball accounting.
Within this bipolarity are some stellar pieces of acting, particularly from Dern whose crumpled Woody won him a Best Actor nomination at this year’s Oscars. The film also offers several layers of meanings and morals for you to dig through. I found Nebraska to be more than a tale of binding ties. Yes, there’s some bonding along the road and David learns of a history that he should have known about his father that provides insight into who and what they all are. But just under that is a parable of turning points… decisions made by us or upon us that we allow to fashion our lives. Decisions that we might doubt deep down in places we don’t like to often go or speak of. And of a need for redemption - some single act that might recover us to some degree. Sometimes we want to think we can move beyond our past with that act… then we see it staring back at us from the side of the road. 7.5 out of 10
Within this bipolarity are some stellar pieces of acting, particularly from Dern whose crumpled Woody won him a Best Actor nomination at this year’s Oscars. The film also offers several layers of meanings and morals for you to dig through. I found Nebraska to be more than a tale of binding ties. Yes, there’s some bonding along the road and David learns of a history that he should have known about his father that provides insight into who and what they all are. But just under that is a parable of turning points… decisions made by us or upon us that we allow to fashion our lives. Decisions that we might doubt deep down in places we don’t like to often go or speak of. And of a need for redemption - some single act that might recover us to some degree. Sometimes we want to think we can move beyond our past with that act… then we see it staring back at us from the side of the road. 7.5 out of 10
