WideModern_nebraska_131120620x413If you have any relatives who are hard of their hearing and terse of their speaking, then you will likely recognize a great deal in Nebraska.  There is a scene in the middle in which Woody Grant (Bruce Dern) and his brothers and some of their sons are sitting around and watching football.  A conversation breaks out, punctuated by “Huh?’s” and “What’s that?’s”, about a vaguely remembered, perfectly inconsequential car.  It reminded me a great deal of my great uncle who passed away earlier this year.  I was cracking up the whole time.

Despite its dour color palette and pitiable characters, Nebraska is a breezy hoot.  This is thanks mainly to the performances, because even when these characters are at their lowest, they are effortlessly charming.  (It must also be mentioned that the black and white isn’t really dour – Phedon Papamichael’s cinematography is lovely.)  I will join the chorus that has been praising Bruce Dern.  And I will express confused wonderment about how June Squibb has not had a bigger career (hey, it’s never too late to break out).  But anyone who knows me well knows that the actor I most want to talk about is Orville Willis Forte IV.  I was excited by the prospect of his first dramatic role, and I thought that the odds of success were in his favor.  In his time on SNL and all of his other comedic work, he commits completely to his performances.  That is a skill that does wonders for comedy AND drama, and he did not forget to utilize it as David Grant.  His role was a tricky mix of put-upon and forthright, and he pretty much nailed it.

The one thing that nagged at me was the yokel portrayal of the residents of director Alexander Payne’s native cornhusker state.  I am not sure if Payne wanted to say that most Nebraskans are simple-minded folk, and if he did, if he meant that as a bad thing, and I am not sure how much that characterization can be pinned on him anyway, seeing as he did not write the screenplay.  Ultimately, though, there was a mix of kindness and cruelty, sensibleness and naivete in Nebraska the film, just as I’m sure there is in Nebraska the state.