NEBRASKA   3.5***

         Nebraska, is a heartfelt, humorous, offbeat story about family as revealed in a road- movie setting. It's a wonderful little movie about dreams and regrets. It's beautifully shot in black and white. And it's also downright charming. The movie doles out the “feel-good” in small doses but by the end of the film it turns out to be just right. It has been nominated for Oscar’s Best Picture.

As the film begins, retired alcoholic auto mechanic Woody Grant (Bruce Dern) keeps wandering away from his home in Billings, Montana. It seems he's determined to walk to Lincoln, Nebraska to claim a million dollar sweepstakes prize he believes he's won. His family knows better, but Woody is steadfast. Finally, his youngest son, David (SNL-vet Will Forte), agrees to simply drive him there in order to settle the matter once and for all. But Woody is injured shortly after the start of the journey and David decides they should take a detour to Woody's hometown of Hawthorne, Nebraska to allow him to recuperate for a couple of days. Once there, Woody visits his brothers and their families (these scenes are achingly realistic), retraces his past and encounters some old faces; David, meanwhile, gets to know his father in a way he never has before.

Dern gives a brilliantly restrained performance, proving that less-is-more.(He’s been nominated for Oscar’s Best Actor) Forte is perfectly deadpan as the patient, accommodating son, David, who is experiencing a role reversal now that he's the one who must care for his aging parent. And June Squibb is brilliantly funny  and steals every scene she's in as Woody's self-centered, brutally frank wife.(She’s been nominated for Oscar’s Best Supporting Actress) . The all-around marvelous performances from the cast  including several local non-professional actors add an unmistakable authenticity to this slice of Americana

Whether or not Woody is really a prizewinner is a mystery that's not solved until the end. But moviegoers are all surely winners for having made  the trip.

It’s rated “R” for some language but it is a “soft” R … more like PG-13.

Clark