Movie Review: TRUE GRIT

photo © 2010 Gage Skidmore | more info (via: Wylio)I like the Coen Brothers. I do. Sometimes though, I hate their movies. Lately, it's been love one, hate one, love one, hate one. I hated their last movie, the critically loved A Serious Man. I "got it", but hated it. So logic would say, if the pattern would hold true, that I should love True Grit. Well, I didn't - but I certainly didn't hate it either.

Westerns don't come out often, which is a shame as it's a great genre. The problem is there are so many classics, the news ones that are made are instantly compared to them. So what do the Coen Brothers do? They remake a classic - a very dangerous task indeed. They claim to never have seen the original starring John Wayne, they just went off of the source material, a book by Charles Portis. The story is very plain - which is why it lacked something for me, despite how well it may have been adapted (I haven't read the book). When a young girl, Mattie Ross (played exceptionally by Hailee Steinfeld) needs someone to avenge her father's murder, she turns to the meanest (and drunkest) Texas Marshall out there to get the job done - Rooster Cogburn (Jeff Bridges). That's the movie. There are a few other characters (including one played by Matt Damon, who was good, but forgettable), but they are really distant to the relationship between the two leads.

So that criticism aside, I really loved the acting in this movie. Jeff Bridges was great (but he may have been playing more of himself than we'd like to think), but the star making role of Mattie played by Steinfeld is why this movie is a must-see. She steals every scene she's in, despite being slightly Juno-esque (oversmart for her age, but we don't care because she's do darn entertaining.). The movie is also paced very well, and at under two hours, just flew by. I would give this movie a 7.5 out of 10. It may be slightly overrated, but it's still worth seeing.

Family Take: Not good kids, and best for older teens on up. There is one violent scene that really made me question how this got the PG-13 rating in the first place.

If You Like True Grit, Try: My favorite western, a oldie but a goodie, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.