True Grit Review

                                                            4 Nuts!

Directors: Joel and Ethan Coen

True Grit is the Coen Brother's most recent masterpiece.  Based on the book with the same title by Charles Portis, the story is about a 14 year old girl Mattie Ross played by Hallie Steinfeld, driven to seek justice for her father’s murder.  She is one of the smartest, 14 year old,  girls in recent cinema history and she shows off her sharp mind throughout the film.  Mattie searches for a bounty hunter to help track down her father’s killer, Tom Chaney played by Josh Brolin.  She finds Rooster Cogburn played by Jeff Bridges, who is a U.S Marshall and a drunk. He’s gritty and that seems to be the qualifying trait that Mattie is looking for to help kill Tom Chaney.  They are joined by LeBeouf a Texas Ranger played by Matt Damon as they set out together on their quest.

Unlike what the trailer suggests, this film is not  about Cogburn, it is about Mattie and she is definitely a heroin you can root for.  Mattie may have hired Rooster because of his “true grit” but we learn early on in the film that it is she who has the real grit.  In fact, there is not a single scene that Mattie is not in.  The entire story is told entirely from her perspective.  The Coen Brothers make this clear to the viewer early on in the film; when the viewer learns that if Mattie is not in ear shot of a conversation then we cannot hear it either. 

This is a true, authentic, Western. Simple and yet incredibly entertaining.  The scenery is beautiful and at times haunting.  The performances from both Steinfeld and Bridges are superb and the dialogue is riddled with dry wit.   Mattie’s is very quick minded and seems to be able to talk down anyone.  All the while, Cogburn’s one liners keeps the audiences chortling.  This however is not the same type of comedy typically found in the Coen Brothers movies.  The humor is dark however it is not as subtle as their trademark wit usually is, as exemplified in their previous films, “A Serious Man”and "The Big Lebowski." It is still very funny but the humor is stylistically different.  However, this  of course is not a comedy and should not be looked at as one.  It’s tough and mean just like the characters in it. 

In a peaNut Shell: I loved every second of the film.  The characters all seem to be able to work well off one another. Their interactions are classic and won’t soon be forgotten. The viewer really feels for Mattie and desires, almost as strongly as Mattie does, that her father’s murderer be brought to justice.  I strongly recommend this movie for everyone, but especially those who have lost faith in the American Western. Additionally, for those not familiar with the genre, this is a great jumping off point.