The film centers on a 70-something geezer named Woody
Grant who can best be described as an ornery cuss. As played by veteran Bruce
Dern, who expertly plays the role of his career, Woody drives everyone
nuts—from his harpy wife (the pitch-perfect June Squibb) to his two sons
(former SNLer Will Forte and Bob Odenkirk (Saul from “Breaking Bad”). Woody’s a
not-really recovering alcoholic on the cusp of intermediate dementia who
believes he has won one of those dubious publishers’ mailing house sweepstakes.
Dern wanders King Lear-like around his home and town, much to the chagrin of
his family. But his son David (Forte), who is wandering around in his own life
of a dead-end job selling stereo equipment at a big-box store and dead-end
relationship (sharp-eyed Payne viewers will note that his girlfriend is played
by the same actress who played the waitress who caused some havoc toward the end
of “Sideways”). Adrift and concerned about what he encounters over at his
parents’ home, he longs to establish some sort of connection with his remote,
nearly monosyllabic dad. So he agrees, somewhat against his better judgment, to
accompany his dad to Omaha to collect the old man’s fake prize money.
They set off from Billings, Montana to the prize office
with abrupt stops along the way at venerable sites such as Mount Rushmore and
then not so venerable places as Woody’s Nebraska hometown Hawthorne. While
there, mishaps, recrimination, thievery (in the form of an industrial
compressor), and acceptance all occur as the father and son encounter family
and friends from the past. Woody and David eventually make it to Omaha, but, of
course, arriving at the offices of the sweepstakes company is not the point in
the end.
Few American directors manage to combine sweet and sour
as deftly as Payne. From “Citizen Ruth” to “Election” to “Sideways” and “The
Descendants,” his protagonists are not always the most admirable people, but
they ultimately are human in their need for love, acceptance, and inner peace.
Woody and David are no different. You want to kick Woody for making everyone
around him so miserable, but then some background context gleaned in the
Hawthorne section makes his prickly nature more understandable, albeit
slightly. And poor, hapless David develops a slightly stronger backbone toward
the end of the film. You sense that he already is damaged goods, but from now,
having made mild peace with his problematic dad, he at least won’t be quite as
pathetic.
You expect veterans Dern and Squibb to be aces, and
other acting veterans like Odenkirk to hold their own. But Forte is the true
revelation here, in part because it is so unexpected. He miraculous make the
hangdog David, potentially an enervating type, be both relatable and palatable
by nicely underplaying him. Few actors in recent memory seem to listen as well as Forte does. With this
performance, all indications are that Forte could handle drama as expertly as
comedy along the lines of Jim Carrey (who was so moving in “Eternal Mind of the
Sunshine”). “Nebraska” doesn’t necessarily rank up there with “Election” or “Sideways” in the Payne oeuvre—it’s too slight at times for its own good. But perhaps given our disorienting times, when we’re seeing the middle class squeezed out of existence and the divide between red states and blue states increasing, Payne’s quiet film about a son and dad trying to reconnect may be a small sign of hope.
