Payne may have been behind the script of the atrocity that was
I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, but as a director he shows no sign of faltering and returns to a more naturalistic and understated mood with the story of a borderline-delusional old man and his put-upon son in a nowhere town, the father becoming determined after receiving a mass-mail letter telling him he's won a million to make it to Nebraska to collect his fortune. It turns into a road movie for a while, with the duo bickering all the way, taking in their stay with excruciatingly brain-dead relatives, until a fairly inescapable conclusion: no fairytale, this, despite some sumptuous black-and-white photography of endless flat prairie vistas.
As the lead, Bruce Dern snarls and sulks to maximum effect, while also conveying wounded pride with great economy, and the underlying gallows-black humour doesn't swamp the basic pathos of the characters' small lives. At a stately two hours, it could probably have done with a little trimming, but then it might have ended up a standard modern product rather than a welcome blast from a bygone era of slow, thoughtful cinema. File alongside Lynch's
The Straight Story.
7/10
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