Wendy and Lucy

Editor's note: To all my fans (ahh who am I kidding) to all my friends who feel semi-obligated to check and my family who feels fully obligated to check and to all those random people who came upon this site by chance and quickly hit the back button as they searched for something of real value, I apologize for not updating this site more frequently. I have not never fear ceased to view movies (although I have watched far fewer this year as I am no longer trying to achieve an inane goal).

Kelly Reichardt's film Wendy and Lucy is a small affair following for a brief time Wendy, a 20 something adrift from the world. She is heading to Alaska so she says. She is accompanied by her beautiful dog Lucy. Wendy has traveled from somewhere in the Midwest (Indiana? I can't recall). She has about $500 dollars left to make it and then tragedy strikes.

Wendy wakes up one day to find her car will not start. A kindly security guard guides her to a repair shop that never seems to be open and a grocery store where she can get some food. Wendy shoplifts a can of dog food for Lucy and is arrested. By the time she is released, Lucy has disappeared. The rest of the film has Wendy trying to find Lucy and get her car repaired.

Michelle Williams is well cast here as Wendy. She's quiet and withdrawn and has her best connection with Lucy. She's decent in this role and the character doesn't call for big outrages. She takes it all quietly in stride more defeated by the world than outraged by it. Despite Williams doing what she can with the character, the film is a bit flat.

My own personal problem with the film which I admit might be unfair, is how stupid Wendy is. She has $500 and a dog she tied up out front of a grocery store. Why the hell is she shoplifting a can of dog food? What do you think will happen to a dog, if its left for 5 hours while you get arrested? Is the character really that stupid or is this really that pathetic of a plot device?

The two ancillary characters of note are the security guard who offers his knowledge and phone to Wendy to help her out and the repair shop owner played by Will Patton. And might I add a complete waste of Will Patton's character actor talent. Why did they even bother casting Patton? Anyone would have done just as well. Was there some bigger scene with him that got cut out? He's literally little more than an extra.

The big problem is that you never get any real sense of what Wendy is running from. Why does she think the solution is Alaska? These things don't necessarily need to be stated outright but at the very least the character needs to convey something of these things. Else why the hell do we care what happens to her?

Frankly I was more concerned with the dog than Wendy. Probably not a good sign for your movie.