Reese Witherspoon is tremendous in this and delivers one of her best performances - it's an incredibly challenging and different role for her that should certainly earn her another Oscar nomination. The film itself is gripping, heartbreaking and often actually quite funny - gorgeously shot and well-paced throughout. Laura Dern also makes an impression though I'm a little surprised she's getting awards buzz as her screentime is fairly minimal (though she's a very, very important character). I'd say this was a hair better than Dallas Buyers Club, which I also loved. It ends up being quite inspiring without being too preachy. A-

reese shows her boobies

His best review yet.

It isn't like she has never shown them before.

It's probably Reese's best performance today. She does a phenomenal job here and Laura Dern does quite strongly as well. At first I was thinking I'd have to compare this to Tracks given their similar travel scenarios but the two are completely different and I feel Wild is the stronger of the two if I were to compare. Vallee is showing that he is a director here to stay and it will be really interesting to see where his career goes from here especially awards wise. The scenery is beautiful and the non-linear back story connecting with the linear adventure of the trip is done really well also. I'd also put it just above Dallas Buyers Club.

What about tomorrow?

Great film. Witherspoon completely sells it, but she is not the only good thing about it.

That being said, Tracks is ever so slightly superior.

Wild, with a fearless, eye-opening performance by Reese Witherspoon, is meditative and often beautiful. Jean-Marc Vallée builds on the directorial promise of Dallas Buyers Club with flourish. In many ways, Witherspoon ends up feeling like the absolute perfect person to portray this role. After years sagging in rote and predictable romcoms, the film ends up feeling incredibly introspective because of the perspective she brings to it as an actress who likely related to many of the movie's themes of self-discovery. It's one of her best performances. Laura Dern, despite reduced screen time, is also wonderful. There have been several movies in the last decade or so of this ilk (Into the Wild, Tracks, etc.), but Wild is the cream of the crop. A

Did you see Tracks, Libs?

This and Tracks are wonderful, but Tracks is ever so slightly better.

Yeah, this was really good. Both Reese Witherspoon and Laura Dern give great performances (though I'd argue they aren't exactly career best performances) and it's a very entertaining and at times thought provoking movie. My only complaint is that I wish it were a bit longer.

A-

Reese Witherspoon delivers far and away the finest, most authentic, most deeply inhabited, and most electrifying performance of her to career to date as writer Cheryl Strayed in Wild. The film, adapted from a 2012 memoir of the same name, documents her grief-inspired decision to travel a thousand-mile portion of the Pacific Crest Trail, from the Mexican border to Portland, Oregon. The film's non-chronological structure also includes flashes of the past, including Cheryl's relationship with her mother (Laura Dern), an idealistic and warmhearted, yet also haunting figure, and her self-destructive abuse of heroin. It draws a sentimental, but convincing line from her physical momentum on the trail (step by painful step) to her mental and spiritual transcendence of anguish and regret.

Though not intended first and foremost as a picturesque travelogue, the film's photography does capture the atmosphere and grit of the variously rain-, snow-, or sand-swept places Cheryl traverses. And its powerhouse star is encircled with character players providing the type of unusual notes one might expect to find on the road in America: a few are menacing, others are benevolently ambivalent, and a handful have a strong, almost instantaneous understanding of why Cheryl might pursue such an arduous journey to start her stunted life anew. If Wild has a flaw, it is its reluctance to embrace, to steal a phrase from Jon Stewart, moments of Zen. Despite the solitary and introspective implications of its storyline, this is a very active picture with a dense and intricate structure. It is overflowing with cuts, musical cues, on-screen text ("Day Fucking 36"), voice-over, and other stylistic elements. The result is largely laudable and mesmerizing, yes, but there are points where I wish it slowed down to let the breadth and gravity of certain sights, sounds, and feelings linger.

A-

Yeah, if Reese didn't win for Walk the Line her and Moore would be battling for that Oscar. She is very, very good here. The film is surprisingly not (that) slow and moves at a nice pace, I enjoyed it quite a bit. The ending kinda felt underwhelming and abrupt though.

I definitely agree about the ending. When it ended I kind of went "that's it?" I expected something more emotional and powerful. This is definitely a film that could have benefited from an extra 20 or 30 minutes, IMO. Still a very good movie though.

This far exceeded my expectations. It was absolutely amazing. Reese Witherspoon turns in a raw, emotionally compelling performance. The film that surrounds her is also great, at once heartfelt, moving, and funny. It all just comes off so authentic, as I felt immersed in Cheryl's trek, and I identified with her mission of finding a way to move on from the dark and self-destructive path she has led herself through. The screenplay is smart, and the editing is seamless in how it incorporates the past and the present. I did not enjoy Dallas Buyers Club much, but Jean Marc Vallée really proves himself here to be a top-notch director. Wild is an incredible experience overall. A

Although there's certainly other material worthy of commendation in Wild, it works best as a showcase for the talents of Reese Witherspoon. There's no doubt that Witherspoon is a talented actress, although her roles since her Oscar win for Walk the Line have lacked the same kind of meatiness from her earlier career that brought her to that Oscar win in the first place. With Wild, Witherspoon once again has a role worthy of her talents, and she digs down deep in order to deliver one of the year's strongest performances. She invests herself completely in the role, and carries the film with some of the most stirring, soulful work that she has ever done. Laura Dern is also a very effective presence in her flashbacks as the mother. Dern's work is so strong that she lingers in the mind even when she's not onscreen, and the relationship that she shares with Witherspoon feels genuine. That relationship is a crucial one to hit given the thematic importance that it takes for the protagonist's journey, and the two actresses nail it. Despite necessary cuts here and there in order to preserve a two-hour running time, Nick Hornby's script captures the spirit of the book on which the film is based, and even though the film moves at a fairly brisk pace, the strength of Witherspoon's performance and the highly effective (and rarely distracting) juxtaposition of flashbacks help to capture the scope of the character's journey and provide for a very strong catharsis as the credits begin to roll. Director Jean-Marc Vallee will undoubtedly receive praise for guiding two terrific lead performances in as many years, but overall, I would say that I prefer Wild slightly over Dallas Buyers Club.

A-

A-

Forget Walk the Line. THIS should be Witherspoon's Oscar-winning performance and thus far she is my favorite this year (maybe tied with Mia Wasikowska for Tracks) among female performers. What a raw, down-to-earth portrayal that shows us a person, who can be very unsympathetic, yet also totally relatable. I loved her scenes with Laura Dern too. Dern is pretty good too, but she is just overshadowed by Witherspoon's terrific turn. It was great to see many familiar faces throughout the film. Jean-Marc Vallée has delivered two great films about two very interesting people back-to-back. Comparisons to Tracks are obviously inevitable, but both films are perfectly able to stand on their own and to me both are way superior to Into the Wild.

Wild is an exceptional showcase of two individuals: Reese Witherspoon in front of the camera and Jean-Marc Vallee behind it. In a relatively short thirteen-month span, he's directed four Oscar nominated performances, two of those winners and another a deserving winner who will lose out but just barely.

Wild is absolutely Reese's film. She is terrific for the first time in a long time, and hopefully has bucked a nearly decade-long trend of below-average fare. I believe in Cheryl Strayed and her three-month journey because of Reese. I experience the high highs and the low lows because of Reese. I am invested in this personal redemption because of Reese.

Unfortunately, it's because of Reese that I enjoyed the film, but her talents only take the movie so far. Maybe it was my mood or maybe I should read the book, but I didn't feel as interested in the deeply personal story of redemption for Cheryl like I should have. And maybe that's the point. We have to see her as this incredibly flawed woman, warts, scars and everything else, while we experience the redemptive trek with her. But I felt a bit of apathy towards Cheryl. I don't believe I should love the film because of Reese. I should still feel something for Cheryl Strayed the person and unfortunately I didn't. My thoughts the entire time were on Reese and how good she is, but felt little else for the story.

Laura Dern's mesmerizing turn as Cheryl's mother is fun in its brevity, but given her Oscar nod, I was expecting a little more. Her scenes with Cheryl at various ages before her death give the film some much-needed sentimentality. But like much of the film, the scenes are sporadic and misplaced, which at times is brilliant and very life-like (don't those moments in our lives just feel like brief flashes most of the time, rather than these fully fleshed-out scenes like in most movies?) and other times it's distracting.

Even still, Wild is still a good movie with one of the year's best performances and certainly Reese's greatest in her career thus far.

B

Seriously loved this. Totally unexpected. I thought I'd enjoy it but it blew past my expectations. Wonderful, inspiring, and beautiful film. Witherspoon is superb. It's already about two hours but I thought it could have been longer.

9/10 (A)