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Mud (2013)

tomatometer

98

Average Rating: 8/10
Reviews Counted: 103
Fresh: 101 | Rotten: 2

Bolstered by a strong performance from Matthew McConaughey in the title role, Mud offers an engaging Southern drama that manages to stay sweet and heartwarming without being sappy.

97

Average Rating: 8.1/10
Critic Reviews: 29
Fresh: 28 | Rotten: 1

Bolstered by a strong performance from Matthew McConaughey in the title role, Mud offers an engaging Southern drama that manages to stay sweet and heartwarming without being sappy.

audience

88

liked it
Average Rating: 4.2/5
User Ratings: 12,651

My Rating

Movie Info

Mud is an adventure about two boys, Ellis and his friend Neckbone, who find a man named Mud hiding out on an island in the Mississippi. Mud describes fantastic scenarios-he killed a man in Texas and vengeful bounty hunters are coming to get him. He says he is planning to meet and escape with the love of his life, Juniper, who is waiting for him in town. Skeptical but intrigued, Ellis and Neckbone agree to help him. It isn't long until Mud's visions come true and their small town is besieged by a

PG-13,

Drama

Jeff Nichols

$5.2M

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All Critics (103) | Top Critics (29) | Fresh (101) | Rotten (2)

Nichols has a strong feeling for the tactility of natural elements-water, wood, terrain, weather.

May 6, 2013 Full Review Source: New Yorker
New Yorker
Top Critic IconTop Critic

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.

May 3, 2013 Full Review Source: Chicago Reader
Chicago Reader
Top Critic IconTop Critic

"Mud" isn't just a movie. It's the firm confirmation of a career.

April 26, 2013 Full Review Source: Newark Star-Ledger
Newark Star-Ledger
Top Critic IconTop Critic

"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.

April 26, 2013 Full Review Source: Detroit News
Detroit News
Top Critic IconTop Critic

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.

April 26, 2013 Full Review Source: Washington Post
Washington Post
Top Critic IconTop Critic

A wonderful, piquant modern-day variation on "Huckleberry Finn.''

April 26, 2013 Full Review Source: New York Post
New York Post
Top Critic IconTop Critic

By setting the action within a quasi-mythic framework Nichols is able to draw us into his big adventure and help us to rediscover the whispers of youth.

May 7, 2013 Full Review Source: Eye for Film
Eye for Film

A stirring ode to innocence that evokes classics like The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Stand By Me.

May 6, 2013 Full Review Source: Digital Spy
Digital Spy

Mud has some interesting things to say about southern manhood, and is observant about the struggle between head and heart, even if it is less forthcoming on how you get a boat out of a tree.

May 5, 2013 Full Review Source: Scotsman
Scotsman

A bold, intelligent, 21st century take on Mark Twain - with added occult tendencies.

May 5, 2013 Full Review Source: Empire Magazine
Empire Magazine

Mud is a potent and earnest rumination on love and change that gets muddled by moments of overblown as well as scattered storytelling.

May 3, 2013 Full Review Source: ScreenRant
ScreenRant

The setting, characters and situations in "Mud" are fully formed and fully satisfying.

May 3, 2013 Full Review Source: San Francisco Examiner
San Francisco Examiner

A modern-day Huck Finn adventure pulled along in the mesmerizing current of a crime yarn and anchored to a teenager's heartbreaking quest for emotional moorings.

May 2, 2013 Full Review Source: American Profile
American Profile

Like great directors before him -- Hitchcock, Polanski, Altman, et al. -- Nichols uses duality with real skill and impact.

May 1, 2013 Full Review Source: tonymacklin.net
tonymacklin.net

Poignant coming-of-age tale has some edgy content.

April 30, 2013 Full Review Source: Common Sense Media
Common Sense Media

This is no Southern Gothic pastiche but a convincing portrait of a South rarely seen onscreen, the South of Walmarts and water moccasins, of Piggy-Wiggly and punk rock.

April 30, 2013 Full Review Source: Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN)
Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN)

I liked Mud. What's frustrating is feeling as if I could have loved it.

April 28, 2013 Full Review Source: LarsenOnFilm
LarsenOnFilm

It's a lovely, coherent piece of storytelling, with a unique sense of place. Nichols has carved out a niche as a distinctive film-maker.

April 28, 2013 Full Review Source: Daily Telegraph
Daily Telegraph

With Mud, Jeff Nichols demonstrates once again that he's that rare breed of filmmaker who prefers to bury himself in the dirt of rural America rather than carve his initials into the concrete of sprawling urbanity.

April 27, 2013 Full Review Source: Creative Loafing
Creative Loafing

Nichols weaves it all together with consummate skill and a little black pepper.

April 27, 2013 Full Review Source: East Bay Express
East Bay Express

It's rare that films manage to capture the actual experience of what it is like to be a child, but 'Mud' seems to nail the ethos.

April 27, 2013 Full Review Source: CraveOnline
CraveOnline

Mud is a captivating drama with well-rounded characters and fantastic performances from its three leads.

April 26, 2013 Full Review Source: Examiner.com
Examiner.com

...a respectful, storyteller's approach to rural America. No mockery, no Hollywood-knows-better, no nonsense. That kind of thing is in shorter supply than the universe's collective desire for McConaughey to return to rom-coms.

April 26, 2013 Full Review Source: Movies.com
Movies.com

Jeff Nichols' script for Mud is a lot like the Mississippi River that serves as a backdrop for the tale of unrequited love. There are times it is big and powerful and other times when it becomes so serene it's easy to forget the depths that hide below.

April 26, 2013 Full Review Source: Fresno Bee
Fresno Bee

Audience Reviews for Mud

A 14-year old boy, the son of a commercial fisherman working the Mississippi River, helps a fugitive he finds hiding out on a remote island. Accomplished storytelling that weaves in multiple subplots and minor characters, blending drama, romance and adventure, with a coming-of-age message that's neither too bitter nor too sweet. Easy to recommend.
May 8, 2013
366weirdmovies
Greg S

Super Reviewer

Although better than "Take Shelter", "Mud" is still not as good, as deep or as entertaining as writer/director Jeff Nichols thinks that it is. Starring Matthew McConaughey in supposedly the best performance to come out of the McCona-sance, Nichols' slightly misogynistic plot tells the story of two boys who decide to explore an island on the Mississippi River, after one claims to have discovered a mysterious boat suspended in the trees. Once on the island they run into a man who goes by the name of Mud; a filthy, starving and very mysterious fugitive, who seems to be living on the boat. Mud elicits the boys help, in exchange for the aforementioned boat. Now, while that sounds like an interesting story, after a while the true themes of "Mud" emerge, when the film begins to play out more so as a multi-generational tale of men who fall in love with women, who prove to be their downfall.
There is a ton of sub-textual "stuff" going on here, dealing with boats as a metaphor for a man's self worth and multiple parallels concerning father and son relationships. And though sub-textual "stuff" is essentially what allows for the best films, due to Nichols' script, "Mud" comes off as more ambiguously underdeveloped than anything. And thus, its own emotional themes concerning coming of age and father and son relationships become muddled, getting lost in the lack of an intriguing story which becomes sadly less and less powerful as it progresses. And therein lies the problem with "Mud". Its foundation was constructed by a writer/director who has a nasty habit of being far too cryptic of a filmmaker for his own good.
That said, Nichols does display a slathering of beautifully constructed visuals and a few inspired lines of dialogue (mostly muttered by the profoundly underutilized Michael Shannon). And there are definitely bits and pieces of this movie, in conjunction with standout performances from both McConaughey and Tye Sheridan, who played the main child protagonist here (and reminded me of River Phoenix in "Stand by Me") that will have audiences sitting forward and taking notice.
Side Note: Reese Witherspoon is also in this movie, but doesn't really do much of anything. So, she's really not worth talking about.
Final Thought: If there is one positive thing I could say about Nichols as an up and coming writer/director, it would be that he does tend to bring out stellar performances from his stable of actors. And "Mud" is the type of film which moves forward on the backs of performances, not necessarily on plot. So, despite the predictable narrative, there is enough good here (especially in the final act) to slightly recommend this film. In fact, I think I would be hard pressed to find anybody who could outright hate "Mud". But I am still shocked at the hordes of critics who tout this as a "must see" or even award worthy.

Written by Markus Robinson, Edited by Nicole I. Ashland

Follow me on Twitter @moviesmarkus
May 7, 2013
Markus Emilio Robinson
Markus Robinson

Super Reviewer

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Discussion Forum

Topic Last Post Replies
Need to know the ending... 1 day ago 2
McConaughey isnt a doofus 4 days ago 1
Question about one of the final scenes. (possible spoiler) 4 days ago 6
This looks really good. 8 days ago 2
What should I see, this or The Big Wedding? 8 days ago 3

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April 25, 2013:
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Some actorly insight into one of the weekend's best-reviewed films.

Foreign Titles

  • Mud - Sur les rives du Mississippi (FR)
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