Family Ties: 'Nebraska'

NEBRASKA (A) - I don't feel compelled to write much about this movie, perhaps because I feel oddly protective of it. Others have critiqued the hell out of it. Go read those reviews; or just go see this wisely funny and profoundly touching film. Storytelling on the screen doesn't get much better than this.

Alexander Payne follows up his surprisingly satisfying "The Descendants" with this s mart character study of Woody Grant (a beyond-haggard Bruce Dern) and his son David (Will Forte), who agrees to drive the old coot from Billings, Montana, to Lincoln, Nebraska, in order to collect the million dollars Woody foolishly thinks he's won from a marketing firm.

June Squibb is a trip as Woody's endlessly hectoring wife, Kate, who has an unkind word for everybody whose name comes up in conversation, even while standing at their graves. The most tender words to Woody she can manage are "You big idiot," offered with a kiss to the forehead. If ever a history of a marriage was masterfully summed up with one line, it's this from 70-something Kate, complaining to her son about Woody: "His mother spoiled him."

The brilliance of Payne's accomplishment here lies in his depiction of Woody's family in rural Nebraska -- they are odd but not cartoonish; they are mockable but not unimaginable. Tim Driscoll and Kevin Ratray are perfect as the thick-skulled brothers joined at the quip who enjoy knocking down big-city, smarty-pants cousin David, especially over his apparent lack of driving prowess. Payne's script is economical, and he conveys volumes with simple shots, like a roomful of stone-faced old men gathered to watch Sunday football, their complicated shared history just lingering in the air.

Everyone wants a piece of Woody's money. Stacy Keach comes out of nowhere to nearly steal the show as Woody's old business partner, Ed Pegram, who is trying to put the screws to David with scowling threats. One of the best lines comes from Ed, who laments the decline of marriage by noting that divorce used to be considered a sin: "I guess God changed his mind." Keach also treats us to a karaoke version of "In the Ghetto."

But it's Dern who holds this all together, with a nuanced performance of a man who seems to be losing his mind or may just be acting out like a 12-year-old seeking attention. His demons follow him everywhere; he can't resist the blinking light of the tavern in his old hometown. Forte holds his own as the exasperated son, who gleans a few old stories that give his dad some dimension and allow David to both understand his father and find some peace while indulging him.

One shot in the valedictory final scene captures it all: David is scrunched down, child-like, looking up at his father -- their roles, for a few seconds, reversed to the way it used to be, long ago. Like many other gems scattered throughout the film, it's a million-dollar moment.