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Straight Story, The
EMAILPRINTBuena Vista Pictures

Universal acclaim
Based on 32 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 32 votes
Read user comments
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Movie Info
Genre(s): Drama
Written by:
John Roach
Mary Sweeney
Directed by: David Lynch
Release Date:
Theatrical: October 15, 1999
DVD: May 9, 2000
Running Time: 111 minutes, Color
Origin: USA / France
Summary
RATING: G for General Audiences
Starring Richard Farnsworth, Sissy Spacek, Everett McGill, and Harry Dean Stanton
The true story of Alvin Straight (Farnsworth) who rides his 1961 lawnmower from Laurens, Iowa, to Mt. Zion, Wisconsin, to visit his estranged brother after the latter suffers a stroke.
Also On Metacritic
FILM: Blue Velvet Inland Empire Lost Highway Lynch Mulholland Drive Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me Wild at Heart
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database View The Trailer Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Austin Chronicle Steve Davis
Its simplicity belies an emotional complexity that will linger in your mind like a gentle dream.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Edward Guthmann
All the actors are good, but it's Farnsworth's brilliantly simple performance that brings The Straight Story so close to greatness.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington
A great, haunting film; it affects us in ways we're not used to...it is capable of both lifting our hearts and chilling us to the bone.
Read Full Review >Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman
The most atmospheric thing in the movie is Farnsworth's face.
Read Full Review >USA Today Mike Clark
The best news the G rating has had since the ratings system was instituted in 1968.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Jay Carr
Farnsworth's embodiment of old American values, with their combination of delicacy, reserve, and stand-alone independence, is a one-of-a-kind treasure.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Examiner Wesley Morris
A momentously, shockingly moving fit of shape-shifting by a filmmaker grown tired of the macabre.
Read Full Review >Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea
A beautiful, appropriately loping little gem about growing older, daring to take risks and follow your heart. That probably sounds corny, and The Straight Story is.
Read Full Review >Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
The first time I saw The Straight Story, I focused on the foreground and liked it. The second time I focused on the background, too, and loved it.
Read Full Review >Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez
The Straight Story truly is one from the heart, and it is wonderful.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman
Lynch's first movie since ''Blue Velvet'' that truly envelops you in its spell. It's a piece of celestial Americana -- his journey to the light side of the moon.
Read Full Review >Rolling Stone Peter Travers
Lynch takes us on a journey of shattering understatement -- a remarkable accomplishment.
Film.com Elizabeth Weitzman
Clear-eyed and open-hearted, The Straight Story (which is based on reality) tells a simple tale, and it does so with a rare, blessed simplicity.
Read Full Review >The New York Times Janet Maslin
Switching gears radically, bravely defying conventional wisdom about what it takes to excite moviegoers, Lynch presents the flip side of "Blue Velvet" and turns it into a supremely improbable triumph.
Read Full Review >New York Post Lou Lumenick
Lynch's first G-rated feature, turns out to be one of the year's best films...a wonderful surprise.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Jami Bernard
If there is any justice in the world, Farnsworth will be remembered at Oscar time.
Read Full Review >Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold
I loved it...Without trying very hard, Farnsworth commands a unique and immensely appealing screen presence that could be called "a compilation of all the great western heroes of the movie past."
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum
The wonderful Richard Farnsworth plays the lead, and he was clearly born for the part...a highly affecting and suggestive spiritual odyssey.
Read Full Review >Film.com Peter Brunette
Richard Farnsworth shines as Alvin Straight, a role, one gets the feeling, that he has been preparing for all his life.
Read Full Review >Variety Emmanuel Levy
Lynch has directed his most satisfyingly disciplined movie.
Read Full Review >Salon.com Charles Taylor
And now in The Straight Story, no director has been so buzzingly alert to the emotional lives of those people or to the beauty of the world they inhabit as David Lynch.
Read Full Review >Time Richard Corliss
Alvin's tragic memories give perspective to the triumph of his trek, even as Farnsworth's weathered brilliance makes this movie a G as in gem.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Ken Fox
Oddly enough, this uncharacteristic offering from a director whose name instantly evokes a very particular kind of film -- call it postmodern American gothic -- is also one of his best.
Read Full Review >Mr. Showbiz Kevin Maynard
Lynch's faith in the kindness of human nature has been renewed, yet thankfully he's never maudlin. Instead, he wins over our emotions with the film's understated beauty.
Read Full Review >Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt
As slow-moving as the voyage it portrays,...a surprisingly complex view of contemporary life beneath its good-natured surface.
Read Full Review >Baltimore Sun Ann Hornaday
An engaging yarn and a moving character study, but it's also a sweet, sad glimpse of everyone's future.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan
Too mannered and weird around the edges to be convincing.
Read Full Review >Village Voice J. Hoberman
Sunny as The Straight Story appears, Lynch is still defamiliarizing the normal.
Read Full Review >LA Weekly John Patterson
Inspirational...unfolds gently with an evenness and rural patience.
Read Full Review >TNT RoughCut Graham Verdon
A snail-paced story in all of its glorious ... slowness.
What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 8.0 (out of 10) based on 32 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
D. W gave it a10:
The only film in the history of American cinema that has a fully realized dualistic plot...the clues in this film...as to why Alvin Straight is REALLY going to see on his brother on his tractor, are delivered with a degree of subtle high-art that even most reviewers of this film missed, but to give a hint... Runaway Girl (aka Dorothy from Oz invoking "no place like home" to start the journey) = Human Birth Deer-strike Lady = Human Ambition (with the leering deer symbolizing that which is lost in its wake) Tractor Brakes/House On Fire= Lynch's explanation of what REALLY happened...pay VERY close attention to that scene. The Handymen Dialogue= Human Honesty (as a result of the above) Bartender Scene= Human Accomplishment Graveyard Scene= Impending Mortality Dead Engine Short Of Destination= Deserved Punishment (notice how Alvin accepts this knowing he has earned this fate) and finally, I feel the greatest moment in the Lynch canon... Old Man On Tractor= God Camera Pans Away= Dignity Of Private Confession Immaculate Repair= Sins Forgiven Simply put; the fact this movie was interpreted by dimwitted reviewers as merely a touching G-rated family film of reunion, is a travesty. Lynch unfurls an meticulously crafted tail of symbolism-via-pastoralia...a profound work exhaulting the finest nuances of cinematic understatement. What we have here, is a A+ work of subtle genius, masquerading directly under the noses of self-appointed aficianados, as a B+ family film. Do not be fooled by the unobservant; The Straight Story is on the shortlist for the greatest films ever made....and it's understated avenue of towards that end, one could argue its esoteric-yet-attainable route to it may be the most breathtaking on that shortlist. and finally, in my opinion the finest scene in the Lynch canon.
Jerry C gave it a10:
It is a work without flaw. It celebrates ordinary people.
Sandy V. gave it a10:
no crime,violence,sex. I thought this a very emotional and caring movie.He touched the lives of many people.Anyone rating this movie a 10 are people who care about others and themselves.
Burnie V gave it a0:
I never dreamt there were bad movies without Steven Seagal, it was a horror to sit through.
W W. gave it a10:
I grew up just a few miles from Mount Zion, and this movie takes me back home. It is a real portrayal of the area. People who didn't like this movie just don't get it.
R C. gave it a10:
I used to work at a video store and often tried to convince people to try this movie. It's a hard sell when you try to describe it, but once you see it, you realize it is wonderful.
Victor B. gave it a10:
Just a wonderful thing.
