Wes's Grade: C+
The handsomely "The Homesman" is a downer and a bit of an odd duck. Based on a novel by Glendon Swarthout and co-directed, written, produced and starring Tommy Lee Jones, it has a great cast and is peppered with some affecting moments, but the depressing story ends on an unsatisfying note. When three women living on the edge of the American frontier are driven mad by harsh pioneer life, the task of saving them falls to the pious, independent-minded Mary Bee Cuddy (Hilary Swank). Transporting the women by covered wagon to Iowa, she soon realizes just how daunting the journey will be, and employs a low-life drifter, George Briggs (Tommy Lee Jones), to join her. Swank's strong turn as the bossy frontier woman who has some obstacles ahead of her is the most memorable aspect of the largely downbeat, unsatisfying but well-acted western drama "The Homesman." It's a little disappointing for a film that provides a well-rounded, strong female character only to have her exit the film due to a man. Jones is also good, but he gives him the hammiest role in the role that's certain to steal scenes, though Oscar-winner Swank holds her own. As the three women, Grace Gummer, Miranda Otto and Sonja Richter are all affecting but underused, though it's nice to see Gummer share a scene for the first time on film with her mom, Meryl Streep, in what amounts to be an extended cameo at the end of the movie. The handsomely shot film captures some of the pensiveness of the lonely frontier, but the oddness of it all disconnects its audience late in the last act when Swank leaves the film. Jones, a serviceable director and writer, has done this thing better with 2005's "The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada" and I'd recommend renting that instead of the well-acted but downbeat "The Homesman."
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