Review of Wild (2014) by Joy E — 14 Feb 2015

While it's good to see Reese Witherspoon out of her usual comfort zone of romantic comedies, Wild tries too hard to find existential insight and redemption in an underdeveloped character. The structure of gradual revelations through flashbacks interrupts the compressed time of the journey, rather than adding meaning.

This makes moments like the fox encounter laughably earnest. Despite these flaws, it's still a refreshing performance from Witherspoon and the screenplay from Nick Horby injects moments of humour and darkness that keep the trek from becoming a slog.