Nebraska (2013) **** [Payne Train Pt. 6]

Very much a spiritual cinematic cousin to David Lynch's The Straight Story (1999), Alexander Payne's Nebraska (2013) had been on my radar ever since it was released theatrically but it took this "Payne Train" (at the insistence of my friend Sean) for me to finally get around to seeing it. As expected, it's an offbeat, slow-moving road movie about a befuddled, elderly man. I was anticipating more of a cantankerous performance from Bruce Dern but he spends most of the movie mostly clueless (and does a damn (dern?) good job portraying it). What I wasn't expecting was that this is as much Will Forte's movie as Dern's. Forte is in a lot of stuff I don't gravitate toward in any fashion, but he's very good in this father-son dramedy. June Squibb really shines in her scenes as well via some flat-out hilarious dialogue. Payne nails the blend of existential drama and laugh out loud humor in this story of aimless existences, growing old, and human kindness.

Alexander Payne Feature Films Ranked