Pun Salad

So I get to demonstrate my Philistinism again: this movie was a critical favorite, and I just found it (barely) OK.

It's set in the Ozarks, and just about everyone is dirt poor. They shoot squirrels, and it's not because the squirrels are bothering the chickadees at the feeder. The protagonist, Ree Dolly, is just 17, but she's already taking primary care of her younger brother and sister. Momma's still around, but her mind has taken a permanent vacation. Ree is coping admirably, but then real trouble comes: her estranged father, renowned cooker of methamphetamine, has gone missing. Worse, he skipped bail. And (still) worse, the Dolly land was put up for collateral, so Ree, Momma, and the kids are threatened with homelessness.

So Ree sets out to discover what happened to Dad. It soon becomes apparent, however, that this is something nobody wants her to find out. She goes up against her clan patriarch/kingpin, and things don't work out well.

It's a hard look at a small slice of America mired in bleak soul-rotting self-destructive squalor. No spoilers, but (unlike the critics) I didn't care for the ending.