Mud

Mrs. Curmudgeon and I just saw Mud, a coming-of-age drama set in Arkansas. The story centers on a 14 year-old boy and his best friends. They're excellently played by relative unknowns, but the supporting cast is stellar, including Michael Shannon, Reese Witherspoon, legendary-playwright-and-actor Sam Shepard, and the unfortunately-underrated-because-he-can't-keep-his-shirt-on Matthew McConaughey.

The poster is guilty of some hyperbole when it describes the film as an "American classic." (Jacob Lofland, who plays Neckbone [admittedly, that's a classic name], bears some resemblance to the River Phoenix of now-classic Stand by Me fame.) However, it does something which I can't recall any other film ever doing: its central drama is the romantic yearning of the adolescent American male. With all their raging hormones, most forget that boys can be just as romantically inclined as girls. Thankfully, Mud doesn't take the cynical route: the film not only portrays Ellis' longing, it moves him through disillusionment to that longing's recovery and continuation.

Perhaps not a new American classic, but for that portrayal a movie well worth watching.