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Wendy and Lucy

EMAILPRINTOscilloscope Pictures

Wendy and Lucy reviews
80
6.1 User Score:

Generally favorable reviews

Based on 32 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 38 votes
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Movie Info

Genre(s): Drama

Written by: Jon Raymond
Kelly Reichardt

Directed by: Kelly Reichardt

Release Date:
Theatrical: December 10, 2008
DVD: May 5, 2009

Running Time: 80 minutes, Color

Origin: USA

Summary

RATING: R for language

Starring Michelle Williams, Will Patton, Larry Fessenden, Will Oldham, Walter Dalton, and John Robinson

Wendy Carroll is driving to Ketchikan, Alaska, in hopes of a summer of lucrative work at the Northwestern Fish cannery, and the start of a new life with her dog, Lucy. When her car breaks down in Oregon, however, the thin fabric of her financial situation comes apart, and she confronts a series of increasingly dire economic decisions, with far-ranging repercussions for herself and Lucy. Wendy and Lucy addresses issues of sympathy and generosity at the edges of American life, revealing the limits and depths of people's duty to each other in tough times. (Oscilloscope Laboratories)

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...

100

Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer

Improbably, it's one of the most affecting films of the year, which once again demonstrates that all you need to make a good movie is talent.

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100

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

Wendy and Lucy is modest, minimalist. But it nonetheless reverberates like a sonic boom.

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100

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker

It's a tender, tough, uncompromising film, photographed with a disarming directness and seeming simplicity that looks almost naked next to the dramatic constructions of most films. It just makes her precariousness all the more real.

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100

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen

This is where the movie excels. In the classic neo-realist tradition, it's scant in plot yet rich in mood and character, offering us a revealing hint here, a poignant glimpse there, with each revelation filtered through Michelle Williams's superbly muted performance, all the more moving for being so restrained.

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91

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

Wendy and Lucy is like "Lassie Come Home" directed by Antonioni. What's piercing about it, and also disturbing, is that Reichardt views the renunciation of society with something close to righteous purity -- as a lefty romantic dream.

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91

The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias

Having the dog around raises the emotional stakes tenfold, and develops a kinship with Vittorio De Sica's Italian neo-realist classic "Umberto D.," which also revealed societal ills through a poignant dog-owner relationship

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91

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

The film is exquisitely realized, with a tremendous, naturalistic performance by Michelle Williams at its heart and a pervasive, assuring sense that Reichardt and Raymond have distilled everything nonessential from their story and imparted exactly the impact they wished.

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90

Los Angeles Times Sam Adams

Williams' performance is remarkable not only for its depth but for its stillness.

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90

The New York Times A.O. Scott

What will happen to her? The strength of this short, simple, perfect story of a young woman and her dog is that this does not seem, by the end, to be an idle or trivial question. What happens to Wendy -- and to Lucy -- matters a lot, which is to say that Wendy and Lucy, for all its modesty, matters a lot too.

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90

Village Voice J. Hoberman

Trembling throughout on the verge of a tearful breakdown, but far too dignified to allow her character to choke up, Williams delivers a sensationally nuanced performance that, were it not so resolutely undramatic, would constitute an aria of stoical misery.

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88

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

Simple story, beautifully told.

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88

USA Today Claudia Puig

An evocative film with a believable and subtly enthralling lead performance that gets deeply under your skin.

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88

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

Another illustration of how absorbing a film can be when the plot doesn't stand between us and a character.

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88

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

Wendy Carroll is a character we rarely see in movies anymore, a woman left alone with her thoughts. That a moviegoer would care what she's thinking testifies to the power in Williams's brand of solitude.

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88

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

Within the confines of this minimalist picture, there are sequences so vital, timely and of-the-moment, so powerful and well-observed and precise, the effect can be emotionally overwhelming.

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80

Chicago Reader J.R. Jones

Masterful low-budget drama.

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80

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

In a minimalist film of muted emotions, Michelle Williams gives as lovely a performance as a moviegoer could ask for.

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80

Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir

Reichardt is a tremendously conscientious filmmaker, and not out to torture the audience. Yes, this is a fraught and agonizing story, but the way it ends, although heartbreaking, is absolutely right.

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80

Variety Scott Foundas

"Old Joy" helmer Kelly Reichardt plays to her strengths in Wendy and Lucy, a modest yet deeply felt road movie about an idealistic young drifter, her faithful canine and the wide-open spaces of the Pacific Northwest.

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78

Austin Chronicle Kimberley Jones

Because Wendy and Lucy is so lean on plot and dialogue, there are long spaces to contemplate Wendy and her situation, and the logistics are mind-boggling.

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75

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

A film that might have seemed faintly academic six months ago becomes an anxious expression of its historical moment.

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75

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

Too often when actors portray complicated or enigmatic characters, they seem to be flirting with the audience, playing hard to get. Not Williams.

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75

Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips

If a Warner Bros. social-protest film from the early 1930s somehow got into bed with an American indie from the 1970s, how would the love-child turn out? Like this.

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75

New York Post Lou Lumenick

Reichardt doesn't so much tell a story as paint a finely detailed portrait of human suffering in this miniature marvel.

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75

ReelViews James Berardinelli

The transformation undergone by Michelle Williams to play this role is nothing short of astounding.

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75

TV Guide Josh Ralske

Reichardt is such a canny filmmaker that one could almost believe that she intentionally leaves Wendy underwritten and a bit of a cipher, because Wendy is far more effective as a bold-faced symbol of the downtrodden than as a fully realized human character.

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70

The New Yorker David Denby

She's infuriating, but the movie, for all its morose impassivity, is beautiful and haunting.

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70

Film Threat Don R. Lewis

Unless you're an antsy movie-goer or have a cold heart, by the end of Wendy and Lucy, you'll be engrossed, hoping for the best possible outcome.

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60

Washington Post John Anderson

For all its virtues, Wendy and Lucy seems like the most overrated of art movies. Yes, it's obscure and distancing and makes you pay attention. Williams's performance is nuanced, moving and well worth any awards she gets. But Wendy is also anonymous.

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60

Empire Anna Smith

Slow, ponderous, meticulously rendered realism that will appeal to specific audiences of slow, ponderous, meticulously rendered realism, with a heart.

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50

The Hollywood Reporter Staff (Not credited)

Michelle Williams does her best but she cannot prevent Kelly Reichardt's Wendy and Lucy, a weak tale about being broke and on the road in rural America, from dwindling into boredom.

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20

New York Daily News Joe Neumaier

Like a worst-case-scenario, indie-movie cliché, Wendy and Lucy throws every bone it can at the screen.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this movie is 6.1 (out of 10) based on 38 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Transporter M. gave it an8:
This is just the kind of film that gives viewer ratings a bad name. I suspect that those who think this film was boring would also think that De Sica's neo-realist masterpiece Umberto D - which it closely resembles - is also boring. It doesn't give critics a bad name to recognize that there are some movies that just can't serve two masters, as many try to do, and which are more like caviar than pizza. For the pizza-only lovers who missed the point of this movie, it is a "tranche de vie" - a slice of life - that poignantly illuminates the triumphs, tragedies, debasement, and, especially, nobility of everyday life.

Jeremy K gave it a2:
Must have played better in the theatre - or not. Nice recap by Andrew. I was emphatically impressed by "Old Joy" and its deft touch of melancholia and wonder. This is in contrast a very silly film whose mundane contrivances and all too overstated sombre simplicity make it feel an empty, patronizing waste of time. Michelle Williams is fine I suppose, I however, found myself more curious about the secret life of the senior, seemngly gentle, journeyman of a security guard. Needless - there's nothing here and let's be generous in calling it a 'noble failure'.

Greg R gave it a3:
Pro: (1)This movie did an effective job of portraying those who don't care about others predicaments. As well as the few who lend a hand to those in need of help: i.e. security guard. (2) I felt Wendy's pain and was compelled to help her. Con: (1)Terrible sound. I would have enjoyed no music compared to the continuous annoyance of somebody humming as well as the droning musical score. (2) Camera work was horrid. Examples: camera man would aim camera at car. Umm, Wendy is over here now, you may wish to pan camera to Wendy. I'm convinced the camera man was distracted by something else during the filming. Another example, the scene in the woods where Wendy was trying to sleep. Some deranged man appears out of nowhere and starts babbling. Ok fine, yes it's scary. Problem is: I couldn't see a darn thing, let alone make out 1 coherent sentence from babbling man. I've never been a fan of completely dark scenes; I find them very annoying. (3) Wendy is destitute, we get it. Let's learn more about her background. Yes, it's actually important for the viewer to understand how/why she is got in this situation. Very weak character development. (4)The movie just ended suddenly, with her giving up her dog, Lucy and hopping on a train. The End. Critics will rave about artistic intentions of the filming techniques and musical score etc.,etc. The fact is, it is popular these days for critics to hump any movie that isn't a hollywood special, regardless of how weak the film actually is.

John B. gave it a1:
This is just the kind of film that gives movie critics a bad name. Widely reviewed by the "experts" as an exceptional film, this thing is a boring mess from start to finish. No story, lifeless acting and a completely nothing of an ending. Absolutely pathetic, and a complete waste of time and money.

J L. gave it a3:
Boring movie. Girl is not very bright.

Rob S. gave it a3:
The acting is good, but the story is pointless. It might has well ended mid-sentence. Did they run out of money and had to just end it?

Andrew gave it a4:
As another viewer noted, this is a companion piece to "Old Joy." However, this one never engaged me. Wendy makes poor choices, the consequences of which are easily foreseen, though apparently she lacks the ability to think one step ahead. OK, so it's a movie about what happens to someone with a hole at her center, the origin of which is unclear, running away from something toward "the last frontier" and probable exploitation, who decides and acts badly with little foresight. But I've seen films about people like her. This one adds nothing. The homeless and drifting are not, as the film tells us, largely harmless, mellow and victimized. Pitiable, yes. But the Pollyannish gloss on what is in general a depressing, predictable tale not only is jarring but offensive. Give "Old Joy" a look if you haven't seen it; it's a much more interesting view of the struggle to grow from adolescence into adulthood, having the same Portland-ish setting.

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