Review of Wild (2014) by Patrick C — 11 Jun 2015

Jean-Marc Vallee is quickly proving himself to be a world class director with his second biopic in as many years. Last year's Dallas Buyers Club won Oscars for Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto. And on the heels of that McCon-aissance comes this Ree-suscitation of Ms. Witherspoon's career.

Witherspoon, an Academy Award winner for 2005's Walk the Line, fell into a quagmire of insipid rom-coms post-Oscar. Career killers like Four Christmases, How Do you Know and This Means War. But she began her climb back to the top with smart choices in small roles in films like Mud and the soon-to-open Inherent Vice. And Wild is sure to net her a second Oscar nod.

As Cheryl Strayed, Witherspoon lets it all hang out in this one woman showstopper. Makeup free with no signs of movie star vanity (the film includes explicit sex scenes and drug use), Witherspoon is an emotional and physical powerhouse as she soul-searches her way for three months across the challenging Pacific Crest Trail, a favorite of the wanderlusting and wild at heart. Remembering her late mother and the descent into grief that destroyed her marriage and almost her life, Cheryl Strayed pulled herself from the edge of disaster by proving she can survive a seemingly impossible goal. Hats off to the great Nick Hornby for forging a marvel of a screenplay from this memoir. This is a movie that both genders will thoroughly enjoy, and I can't wait to see what Vallee will accomplish next.