Mud 2013

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: An evocative highlight of the American movie year so far. Read more

Mary Corliss, TIME Magazine: Glorious vision of youth and truth, love and loss, your name is Mud. Read more

A.O. Scott, New York Times: Mr. Nichols's voice is a distinctive and welcome presence in American film. Read more

David Edelstein, New York Magazine/Vulture: It's hard to believe Nichols thinks he can get away with all this and harder still to believe he does. Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: It's a movie that holds out hope for the movies' future. Read more

Tom Keogh, Seattle Times: The film's guilelessness in stoking classic themes, folklore and paradigms in American culture would be absurdly self-conscious if Nichols didn't have such an original voice as a storyteller. Read more

Mike D'Angelo, AV Club: Nichols has concocted something ... along the lines of a ripping yarn, with fairly conventional story beats built upon a sturdy, familiar coming-of-age template. Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: Once writer and director Jeff Nichols' film about love, lies and loss gets going, it never really stops. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: With "Mud," Jeff Nichols announces his intention to do it all. He just may yet. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: Nichols takes his time with the story, dwelling on how the boy is shaped by the killer's tragic sense of romance, yet the suspense holds. Read more

Adam Graham, Detroit News: "Mud" unfolds at its own pace, revealing its story in slivers. The performances are outstanding, especially from Sheridan, who plays tough, sweet, vulnerable and confused with equal conviction. Read more

Cary Darling, Fort Worth Star-Telegram/DFW.com: Mud has the feel of a novel ... that's rooted deep in American soil. Yet it was written specifically for the screen by [Jeff] Nichols, who has conjured up a coming-of-age story set in the South that doesn't resort to using caricatures and cliches. Read more

Chris Nashawaty, Entertainment Weekly: There's something old-fashioned about Mud, but if you allow yourself to settle into its leisurely pace, it will reward you. Read more

William Goss, Film.com: The most immediately involving film that I've seen in a good long while. Read more

Todd McCarthy, Hollywood Reporter: The story of a sympathetic fugitive who forges a bond with two teenage boys near a mighty river down south, Mud is shot through with traditional qualities of American literature and drama. Read more

Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times: One of the most creatively rich and emotionally rewarding movies to come along this year. Read more

Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: You come away from Mud fondly remembering those two boys, especially Ellis, who has taken his first steps toward adulthood and discovers it suits him just fine. Read more

David Thomson, The New Republic: For at least three-quarters of the way, this is a fine film, and one that kids and parents could see together. Read more

John Anderson, Newsday: Nichols' wild narrative tributaries all eventually intersect, and at no time does he let one's attention stall. Read more

David Denby, New Yorker: Nichols has a strong feeling for the tactility of natural elements-water, wood, terrain, weather. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: "Mud" isn't just a movie. It's the firm confirmation of a career. Read more

Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: Sadly, Nichols, who made the superb Take Shelter, gets mired in mood this time around. But there's still an evocative sense of childhood exploration, and a gritty performance by Matthew McConaughey. Read more

Lou Lumenick, New York Post: A wonderful, piquant modern-day variation on "Huckleberry Finn.'' Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: Mud is steeped in a sense of place, and the people inhabiting it. Southern. Superstitious. Suspenseful. Sublime. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: A modern-day homage to the settings and characters popularized in some of Twain's best loved works. Read more

Jim Emerson, Chicago Sun-Times: [Nichols] has a rare ability to root his archetypal Southern fables in rich observational detail. They remain tangibly specific but take on the larger resonances of folklore. Read more

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: What you do need to know is that the acting is top-tier all the way. McConaughey, on a career roll, is magnificent. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: Writer/director Jeff Nichols creates richly realized characters in a tale that moves like a cottonmouth viper, advancing slowly until it strikes with sudden violence. Read more

Calvin Wilson, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: McConaughey brings to the film a heartfelt and beautifully realized angst. And Witherspoon is excellent as a woman who can't help being who she is, regardless of any pain that may cause. Read more

Adam Nayman, Globe and Mail: There is an enchanted-fairy-tale aspect to Mud, but its bright, calm surface only barely disguises a strong, churning undercurrent. Read more

Toronto Star: A modern fairy tale, steeped in the sleepy Mississippi lore of Twain and similar American writers, and with a heart as big as the river is wide. Read more

Alonso Duralde, TheWrap: Nichols lovingly sketches his characters and their world; he takes his time doing so, but it's a pleasure to watch the small interactions and the humid reality of secret coves and Piggly Wiggly supermarkets and seedy hotels. Read more

Guy Lodge, Time Out: There's an argument to be made that there's a calculated degree of cliche to this sweet, Southern-fried fairytale, that Nichols is paying tribute here to his more mainstream inspirations. Read more

David Fear, Time Out: What sounds like Huckleberry Finn on the page, however, ends up like a stock melodrama onscreen. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: Mud is a lyrical coming-of-age tale that feels like a Mark Twain story in a contemporary setting. Read more

Peter Debruge, Variety: Confidently expanding his inquiry into the essence of American masculinity, Nichols' latest pressure-cooker pastoral conjures a wily figure of endangered Southern chivalry. Read more

Alan Scherstuhl, Village Voice: McConaughey, of course, is excellent. Read more

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: The film is drenched in the humidity and salty air of a Delta summer, often recalling the musical, aphoristic cadences of Sam Shepard, who happens to appear in a supporting role. Read more