Review of True Grit (2010) by Jasongoalie — 09 Jan 2011

I know I'm going against the grain... I know this movie is well liked by critics and patrons alike... But after watching this movie, I feel like the enlightened one in a sea of gullible moviegoers! Can anyone else appreciate just how TERRIBLE this movie was? First: the script plays on screen like it was written by a school child.

Sure, there's some witty one-liners and laugh-inducing reparte now and then, but in the context of a (supposedly) serious film, these parts of the dialogue transpire with the feel of a cheap David Spade movie.

.. (not that there's anything wrong with David Spade movies, it just doesn't belong here). Second: certain scenes of this move are ABSOLUTE GARBAGE, and do nothing in the way of character development or plot advancement! The man in the tree who Rooster Cogburn "does not know".

.. The painfully awkward, random meeting with the medicine man in the bearskin... the inane, often incomprehensible ramblings of Cogburn... the lame-ass cornbread shooting contest... Do you need another four WORTHLESS scenes from this film? I'd be happy to list them.

Third: I think it would be fair to say that this movie *attempts* to portray a special bond between Cogburn and the little girl, Mattie Ross. To steal a line from today's youth: EPIC FAIL. Jeff Bridges is a (usually) great actor, and Hailee Steinfeld seems like a wonderful young actress.

But taken together, these two have the chemistry of oil and water... Summary thoughts: This movie is boring, hamstrung by hollywood cliches, rather poorly acted, INCREDIBLY poorly written, has a very uninspiring "gotcha, bad guy!" moment, and perhaps shouldn't have even been (re)made in the first place.

The 2 points I have awarded are for the (surely unintentional) entertainment value derived from the aforementioned campy one-liners, and overdone, humor-inducing melodrama... Enjoy, but probably if you're over 70.