CMG HC_ D1 021011.indd - The Hollywood Reporter

Reviews
True Grit
By Todd McCarthy
THE ONE-EYED FAT MAN IS
back, but working in a very
different key, in the Coen
Brothers’ take on True Grit,
a melancholy, atmospheric Western
with a 14-year-old girl at the center of
it. A story of pursuit and sought-after
justice that places in stark relief the
main characters’ strengths and failings,
this wintery work is well played
and superbly crafted but hits largely
familiar notes, giving it a one-dimensional
feel without much dramatic or
emotional resonance. The solid cast,
involving story and intrinsic appeal
of the good guy-bad guy Western
format should translate into decent
mid-range business, with the film’s
ultimate box office fate heavily dependent
upon how it plays for families
and young audiences.
Famous mostly for John Wayne’s
enjoyably hammy Oscar-winning performance
as Rooster Cogburn, a growling,
boozing, trigger-happy deputy
marshal who grudgingly helps a young
lady track down her father’s killer in
Indian country in the 1870s, the 1969
adaptation of Charles Portis’ wonderful
novel exuded amiable relaxed
charm under the direction of veteran
Western director Henry Hathaway.
Two obvious fixes the Coens tended
to at once were restoring the proper
age of the female lead (Kim Darby was
20 when the first film was shot) and
casting a strong actor to play the Texas
Ranger who uncomfortably accompanies
Rooster and little Mattie Ross into
a land filled with fugitive outlaws and
no-accounts. These represent major
plusses for the new film, as screen
newcomer Hailee Steinfeld makes an
excellent Mattie, and Matt Damon,
from the moment of his laconic bootson-a-porch
rail entrance designed
to recall Henry Fonda in My Darling
Clementine, puts any thoughts of Glen
Campbell immediately to rest.
Startlingly, however, what the Coens
have given up is humor. To readers of
Portis’ novel, which was a critical and
commercial hit when published in
1968, the crackling, colloquial, often
laugh-out-loud hilarious
dialogue seemed
almost ready-made
for any screenwriter
to more or less lift it
intact. Marguerite
Roberts put some
perky, folksy spin on it
four decades ago. Joel
and Ethan Coen, while
retaining some of Portis’
wordsmithing, have
oddly decided to drain
most of the comedy
6
In Competition
Bottom Line: Well-made
and acted Coen Brothers
remake lacks the humor and
resonance that might have
made it memorable.
Production Company:
DreamWorks, Skydance,
Scott Rudin/Mike Zoss Prods.
Director-screenwriters: Joel
and Ethan Coen, based on the
novel by Charles Portis Cast:
Jeff Bridges, Hailee Steinfeld,
Matt Damon, Josh Brolin, Barry
Pepper, Dakin Matthews,
Paul Rae, Domhnall Gleeson,
Elizabeth Marvel
True Grit
from inherently funny lines and situations.
Considerable character color is
lost in the process, particularly where
Rooster is concerned; sure, Wayne did
a fair share of broad mugging in his
day, but that didn’t mean Bridges and
the others had to steer clear of the sort
of comic timing that would only have
enriched the material and made it
more entertaining this time around.
But the focus here is resolutely upon
Mattie, a remarkably poised, selfconfident
and, it must be said, entirely
humorless girl whose every move and
decision is driven by her aim of tracking
down Tom Chaney, the man who
shot her father. For the audience, Mattie
proves her mettle at the outset by
completely having her way in negotiations
with an experienced horse trader
(fantastically well
played by Dakin Matthews),
thereby leaving
no doubt that she’ll be
more than able to hold
her own with the imposing
Rooster (whom she
first confronts while he’s
occupied in an outhouse),
the condescending
LaBoeuf (Damon)
and even Chaney (Josh
Brolin) when she finally
confronts him. THR
day1_leadreview.indd 1 2/9/11 4:29 PM