It
has been 13 years since Matthew McConaughey played his bongos nude
while high on Cannabis and then went into a string of not so romantic or
funny romantic comedies. In the past 2 years he has been making a
startling comeback with 3-4 highly acclaimed performances and he adds
another one with “Mud”. With Medusa like hair, a chipped tooth, scraggly
beard, tattoos and with a tan that is golden on his chiseled body you
can see that bongo playing bad boy through the aging face. As the titled
not quite so heroic  lead on the run for killing a man and with that
man’s father (Joe Don Baker), and bounty hunters tracking him down, Mud
turns to his father-like figure Tom (Sam Shepard) and two 14 year old
 boys Ellis (Tye Sheridan) along with Neckbone (Jacob Lofland) for help.
Tom warns the boys that Mud is nothing but a liar and all of his
failures have been due to his love of Juniper (Reese Witherspoon) who he
is now looking to hook up with again, run away and start a new life.

With
a strong supporting cast along with Baker and Shepard there are Ray
McKinnon and Sarah Paulson as Ellis’s parents, Michael Shannon as
Neckbone’s uncle and Bonnie Sturdivant as a possible girlfriend for
Ellis, though she doesn’t see it, McConaughey holds his own and the
audiences attention but this film revolves around the boys. They are
coming of age and all that brings including seeing the so many different
ways of love among adults.

With
all that this film is very disappointing for many reasons but the major
one is that director and screenwriter Jeff Nichols tries to handle too
many themes and in turn has a 2 hour and 10 minute film that would have
been a lot better at one hour and 45 minutes.  Though the relationship
between McConaughey and Witherspoon is vital to the movie it is given
short shrift and the latter very little screen time. Though good in
their roles both Shannon’s and Shepard’s roles could have easily been
eliminated as 2-3 other  storylines really didn't add much but took away
that important Mud and Juniper relationship.

Definitely
a nod of the head to cinematographer Adam Stone who makes the Arkansas
sunsets, sunrises and rivers sparkle. The original music by David Wingo
and the production designer Richards A. Wright brings you into and lets
you know the world of the Arkansas Delta.

“Mud”
has fine performances by McConaughey, Sheridan, Lofland and the
supporting cast but the length, slow pace and too many storylines work
against it.