MUD

This coming-of-age story of two 14 year old boys ... best friends .. who live in rather decrepit houseboats on thee Mississippi River with their families is sadly as slow and boring as their nearest small Arkansas town.  For want of something to do Ellis and Neckbone like to explore the river and the various islands that it leads out too. On one of them they discover an abandoned boat that they are about to reclaim when they realize that they have been beaten to it by an odd looking drifter who calls himself Mud and who charms them into helping him.

It turns out that Mud is both an inveterate liar and a wanted man, not just by the Authorities but also by the father of the man that he killed.  His floozy girlfriend is holed up in a Motel in Town and he cajoles young Ellis to take messages back and forth.

Tough kid that he is, Ellis is a hopeless wee romantic.  Distraught that his parents have fallen out of love and are about to get a divorce, he also rescues the 16 year old girl he loves by fighting off a bigger older boy, and now he becomes the go-between Mud and his moll because he misguidedly believes that they too are love's young dream.

Despite the exceptional fine performances by the two young actors playing Ellis  & Neckbone, the plot is thin and the script stilted, and there are times when it's all just like watching paint dry.  Correction, sometimes it wasn't even as exciting as that.  The frustration is compounded by the two main adult actors who seemed dreadfully miscast.  Matthew McConagahy, a tad too keen to show off the perfect buff chest he had for 'Magic Mike', adopted the most oddest of accents to play Mud in a most unconvincing performance.  And I still cannot fathom out what Oscar winner Reece Witherspoon was doing playing the small role of the abused girlfriend which would have been so more suitable for a much younger and newer actress.

All in all a disappointing third feature from filmmaker Jeff Nichols, especially after his rather excellent 'Take Shelter'. Mud tries to redeem himself by saving Ellis's life but that, and the gun battle at the end, did little to save the film, but it did at least thankfully mean it was over.

★★★