This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. "He ain't here."
"He ain't anywhere."
"He's somewhere."

This stirring interaction between Ree (Jennifer Lawrence) and her uncle Teardrop (John Hawkes) transpires as they search a graveyard for evidence of the body of Ree's missing father. Winter's Bone is not a film one would call rich with dialogue. Set as it is in the poverty of the rural Ozarks, there isn't much call for verbose discourse. Unfortunately, the movie fails to offer much by way of compensation.

Winter's Bone is ultimately a bore. Ree must find her father (or evidence of his death) in order to save her home and keep her family together. While I sympathize with her plight, I cannot muster up any enthusiasm so as to concern myself with the outcome of her quest.

You see, it seems that Ree's father probably crossed the wrong people and got himself killed. The mystery of his disappearance purports to be at the centre of this story. The problem is that the success of any mystery is contingent on having at least a modicum of interest in seeing it resolved. Winter's Bone contains a motley assembly of rednecks who probably killed Ree's dad. But who cares? It's not like this is a complex organized crime syndicate that Ree endeavours to bring down. We're talking about a bunch of toothless hillbillies whose reluctance to lead Ree to the body is likely only because they can't remember where they stashed it.

Jennifer Lawrence's performance as Ree is good, but it is not ground-breaking. Her character spends most of the movie wandering around in something of a daze. Director Debra Granik does a reasonably good job of maintaining an atmosphere of brooding menace, but she does not explore anything more than the superficial. This couldn't be more clear than in the macabre climax to Winter's Bone. This scene, in which Ree discovers her father's corpse, merely underlines the literally shallow depth at which most of the film operates.

The film concludes with a shivering Ree seated with her younger siblings on the front steps of the shack she has managed to save. "I ain't going anywhere," she reassures the kids. Unfortunately, there is nothing self-conscious in this scene. In this line, Ree articulates what should have been at the foundation of Winter's Bone. That, despite the successfully concluded digression into the mystery of her father's disappearance, Ree's life will remain one of abject poverty and struggle. Winter's Bone has nothing to say about this reality. I simply can't explain this profound disinterest in its own characters.… Expand

I was really looking forward to this movie after the glowing critic reviews and those of a couple of friends. Unfortunately, I found this movie to be dull and without purpose. Everyone raves about the acting but I found the performers seemingly disinterested in their plight. I didn't care for any of the characters nor could I admire any of the performances so there was nothing to hold my interest. I like slow-paced movies but this was deathly dull. A real letdown.… Expand

I really don't understand why this film got such high praise! I get that gives us a realistic look at the lives of poor people living in small tow, USA. Even though Jennifer Lewis deliveries a very convincing performance as Ree the 17 year old small town girl dealing with a lot of issues, this still was just a boring, and pointless film!!! They have made better TV movies! Bottom line, this film was a waste of time so don't bother!!!
Acting: Great
Storyline: Weak
Characters: Boring… Collapse

Wow! I can't believe the high reviews for this awful movie. This movie was extremely boring and pointless. I will say that the two main characters were good actors and the scenery was good, but everything else was just either boring or silly. I was born and raised in the Ozarks and this is just not a fair or realistic representation of the people that live there. Regardless, please please please don't waste your time with this farcical and boring movie. I want my $1 back from redbox.… Expand

I read some of the reviews on here and IMDB and thought that at the very least this was going to be a watchable movie. Man was I wrong! It was terrible. Boring, turgid, dreary and anyone who says the story is believable needs to get there brain examined. I wanted to like this movie, but it proved impossible.

It sports a good performance from Jennifer Lawrence but where the hell is the pure cinematic artistry in this????? It's supposed to be a thriller, well it's boring as hell! 2/4 stars.

Winter's Bone is to put it kindly a bore. it is an almost failure of a film except for the semi solid performance of jennifer Lawrence. It is a tale of backwoods trash that takes a tiny amount of real sentiment and spreads it so thinly along its narrative that your attention wants to go elsewhere but the problem is your mind can't and you end of wondering why am i sitting here?

Just watched it. Dear God in Heaven, what a painfully overrated film. Bland, stark (in a bad way) and boring. It might have been a much better production as a short film. The story failed to grab me once. A tale of backwoods trash that takes a tiny amount of real sentiment and spreads it so thinly along its narrative that your attention WANTS to go elsewhere. Missable. Very missable.

Critics, Users? have you lost your minds? Boring boring boring. I must use 150 characters to write a review but this film has left me so numb that I have nothing to say. The wife was smart and left the movie after 10 menets,