Mud Reviews
The Playlist
Mud is as unmoving as it is because it doesn't aspire to be anything other than a competent anti-fairy tale in which the paint-by-number morals are enforced by equally obvious main protagonists.
Full Review
| Original Score: C
Top CriticWhat sounds like Huckleberry Finn on the page, however, ends up like a stock melodrama onscreen.
The Playlist
Every scene, moment and shot of Mud is spot-on, necessary, and adds to the whole, making for a satisfying film experience that will please many a varied filmgoer's taste.
Full Review
| Original Score: A
Bloomberg News
Buy a boat in a tree, and you'll buy anything. And so we do in "Mud," Jeff Nichols's yarn about a charming outlaw on the run, drizzled with Tennessee Williams lyricism and Huck-and-Tom adventure.
Slant Magazine
The film ultimately succeeds thanks to small details, from its deep-fried lingo and the swampy texture of its location photography to its uniformly expert cast.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/4
We Got This Covered
I so wish I had the "Wrap It Up" box from Chappelle's Show, because if I could have hit it around the hour and forty five minute mark during Mud, it would have added another star onto my review.
Full Review
| Original Score: 6/10
Austin American-Statesman
The movie, like adolescence, is a rich and emotional experience that jolts and jangles with a sense of wonder, mystery and discovery.
Full Review
| Original Score: A-
CraveOnline
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.
Full Review
| Original Score: 8/10
HeyUGuys
Though it is unlikely that Mud will live up to the expectations of those who were floored by Jeff Nichols' last film Take Shelter, it is still a powerful film in it's own right.
Full Review
| Original Score: 4/5
Examiner.com
Mud is a captivating drama with well-rounded characters and fantastic performances from its three leads.
Full Review
| Original Score: 8.5/10
Schmoes Know
Thank you Joe Nicholl for reminding me that I don't just love movies for wookies and capes and guys in iron suits. Still pumped for IM3 though.
Full Review
| Original Score: 5/5
There's an argument to be made that there's a calculated degree of cliché to this sweet, Southern-fried fairytale, that Nichols is paying tribute here to his more mainstream inspirations.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/5
McConaughey, of course, is excellent.
American Profile
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.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3.5/5
Film Journal International
Against a lush Mississippi River backdrop, a boy's coming-of-age is spurred by a friendship with an outlaw.
Film Threat
Confirms Nichols' status as a rising talent in the world of independent film who's yet to make a truly major work.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3.5/5
Paste Magazine
It's a sweet tale that displays plenty of faith in humanity without ever veering into sappiness and always keeping you on the edge of your seat.
Full Review
| Original Score: 8.9/10
ComingSoon.net
As fable like as Mud can be, with its good luck charms and wards against werewolves and demons and men who salvage using homemade diving bells, at its heart it is about real people going through real things.
Full Review
| Original Score: 8/10
Scotsman
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.
Full Review
| Original Score: 4/5
Movie Nation
Authentically Southern Gothic, featuring one of Matthew McConaughey's best performances ever.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3.5/4
