Wendy and Lucy - Movie Review

If you liked “Into the Wild” you might have half a chance of getting into this extended melodrama. But beware, the story has none of the interesting characters and double the lameness

Following up her Oscar nomination two years ago for Best Supporting Actress for her role in “Brokeback Mountain,” Michelle Williams is looking for a lead role that shows what she can do. But the role of a down and out young woman headed for a fish cannery job in Alaska doesn’t do it. The fact that she has lost her dog and can’t leave a small town in Oregon completes the plot. Lost dog and fish cannery job. Oh, and her car is broken down and won’t start. That pretty much does it.Competing with the teenage lead in “Into the Wild” for the title of most feckless human being currently existing on the planet, she wins. In fact, for the title of most boring film about the lame, “Wendy and Lucy” is a front-runner. The environment is very similar in both films and both have stupid teenagers as leads. The lighting is flat and plain and the backgrounds featureless and gray. “Wild” exploits some Alaska scenery, but “Wendy and Lucy” has no such luck. It is a plain film in a plain brown wrapper.Director Kelly Reichardt apparently filmed the movie with no sets and entirely on location in Portland, Oregon. If nothing else, this film appears to have been shot economically and making the best of available light and scenery. The background of moving freight cars is tired out after the first three minutes of the film; but like a bad dream it keeps coming back. The cheap, available, moving freight car back-drop is getting so terribly overused that seeing it in the first minutes of an independent film is getting to be an automatic signal to throw the DVD in the trash and see what’s on HBO.As if this is not bad enough, when the homeless Wendy decides to camp out in the woods, she chooses someplace close to the train tracks even though she is not jumping freight (yet). When the idiot hobo wanders by her makeshift hovel, she panics and runs. She is amazed that crazy homeless people wander around the dirty, filthy, noisy railroad tracks. The only thing more amazing than a beautiful, sexy teenager camping in hobo-town is someone paying for a ticket to see this film.The crux of the story is that Wendy loses her dog and so has to stay in a small town in Oregon that is distinguished by containing absolutely nothing of interest. The only reason Wendy is there is to recover her dog. Wendy loves her dog and we don’t. In fact, after seeing Michelle Williams walking the streets with the same “Oh gosh, what do I do now” look on her face, we don’t love Wendy any more, either.She is befriended by an elderly security guard who helps her with words such as “Sorry, ma’am, but you can’t park here.” The rest of the film is every bit as entertaining as that introductory line from the security guard (TV actor Wally Dalton). Other people in Wendy’s life include the auto mechanic who tells her that it will cost more to repair her car than the car is worth. She finds this hard to understand. Go see this film and you will find it hard to understand why you are there.Filming an entire feature length film in flat light makes sense when there is something happening on the screen. Fore example, “Run, Lola, Run” is a film that has as little plot as does this film and relies on one person to carry the story. But the film moves with energy and conviction. “Wendy and Lucy” moves like a series of pictures looking for a story. A lost little girl is not a story, it is a plea for understanding and pity. Understand and pity the persons involved in this stinker, but don’t go see the result. Release: December 10, 2008
MPAA: Rated R for language
Running Time: 80 minutes
Country: USA
Language: English
Color: Color

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See this film despite this review!Dec 11th, 2008 - 17:59:46

I saw this film at a very small screening in New York. It was far and away one of the best films I've seen this year. Michelle Williams is extraordinary here. With little dialogue and spare sets, she conveys what's happening inside her to the audience in a way that one cannot resist, if one has a beating heart. It's all there, in her face, her mannerisms, and the emotional armor she tries to wear as a woman alone, except for her companion animal.

Give this one a chance. I don't believe you'll be sorry.

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skazDec 26th, 2008 - 09:24:40

The critic fell for the laid trap...
This ain't no Hollywood-sunshine-come-to-my-rescue-PlayStation action film. I hear the railroad tracks every night and that is just life.
Life in real life is just something of a bore for mainstream critics. Movie can develop their own sense of time without jump-cuts.
If you're into the distorted, rosy colored film style, then watch the new Will Smith movie. That is nicely removed from reality...

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nickFeb 21st, 2009 - 03:14:40

'Melodrama'? Are you kidding?

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