Mud Review

I'm willing to bet that a good majority of you reading this haven't yet heard of the movie Mud, so allow me to explain. Some movies get signed on with a big distributor and focus on a heavy marketing and advertising campaign in order to get people to learn about the movie. Other movies get submitted to a film festival and then if it does well it moves forward to being distributed to the general public via movie theaters across the country. It usually starts with very few theaters and slowly expands to more theaters depending on how well it does in limited release. Mud is a movie that has taken the latter route. In 2012 it was nominated for the Palm d'Or, the highest award given in the Cannes Film Festival. Two weekends on April 26th, it was given a limited release in 363 theaters. Last weekend it expanded to 576 theaters, just short of an official wide release. It's top 10 appearance in the box office combined with its 98% score on rottentomatoes was enough to catch my attention. Turns out that when I looked it up, I learned that one of those 576 theaters was the theater right next to me, so without further ado, I went to check it out. Turned out to be a great decision. With it getting an official nationwide expansion this weekend, I'd highly recommend you give it a shot as well.

Mud is a movie that stars Matthew McConaughey and Reese Witherspoon, but in actuality is about a 14 year old boy named Ellis, played Tye Sheridan, whose only other previous acting role came in 2011's Tree of Life. Him and his bestfriend Neckbone are exploring in the woods and come upon a boat in a tree. They find that there is a man by the name of Mud (McConaughey) living in the boat. Turns out that Mud is a fugitive who killed a man and is being hunted by the police and bounty hunters. However, he is very nice to the two boys and enlists their help by promising them ownership of the boat in exchange for food. This causes a relationship to be developed and the boys agree to help Mud reunite with his former love Juniper (Witherspoon). This movie is not an fugitive action thriller like the movie Fugitive. It's also not a chick flick. And no, it's a combination of the two. Rather it is a coming-of-age drama focused on a 14 year old boy who is struggling to figure out how he sees love as through all this he has developed a crush of his own and his parents are going through a divorce.

This movie turns out to be a very moving movie when all is said and done, but it is very slow moving for much of the movie and doesn't really pick up until towards the end, but it's worth it because you come away with a very good feeling towards the movie. It's a very well casted movie that combines great teenage acting from movie newcomers Tye Sheridan, Jacob Lofland, and Bonnie Sturdivant with seasoned movie vets Matthew McConaughey, Reese Witherspoon, Michael Shannon, Sarah Paulson, Ray McKinnon, and Sam Shepard amongst others. And really the whole cast does a great job in this movie and that is what carries the movie. I was also really impressed with the score and cinematography in this movie and all of that added to a very good movie experience for me.

Wrapping things up, I think this is the type of movie that would be considered for Academy Awards rolls around again at the beginning of next year. There is a lot of competition this year as far as that goes, but I think at the very least Matthew McConaughey deserves to be considered for a best actor nomination as this probably the best I have seen him in a movie. As far as the whole movie goes, yes this is a busy time for movies and there are a lot of movies on the top your list of movies to see, but I suggest that you give this one a chance. I give it an 8 out of 10.