Nebraska

When a booze-addled old man (Bruce Dern) gets the idea in his head that he's won one of those million-dollar publisher's sweepstakes, his estranged son (Will Forte) humors him, hoping they can reconnect on a road trip to Lincoln, Nebraska, to claim the old boy's prize. Bob Nelson's script is a mine of mordant humor and wry insight, and director Alexander Payne carefully brings out the best in the script and his actors, including Bob Odenkirk as Forte's brother, Stacy Keach as Dern's lifelong frenemy, Angela McEwan as a long-ago sweetheart Dern barely remembers, and (most especially) June Squibb as Dern's cantankerous wife (Oscar, are you watching?). The movie's only drawback is Phedon Papamichael's black-and-white cinematography, a pretentious artsy-fartsy touch that is flat, textureless and distracting.