Starring Matt Damon, John Krasinski
Directed by Gus Van Sant
Lets be honest: There isnt much promising about a flagrant piece of Oscar-bait scripted by two Hollywood stars eager to tackle a hot-button environmental issue. Sure enough, Gus Van Sants latest foray into mainstream filmmaking wastes little time in living down to its potential for wrongheadedness and over-earnestness. And as it grows increasingly condescending, you find yourself thinking back to the rebuttal that natural gas salesman Steve Butler (cowriter Matt Damon) offered as a critique of his companys controversial fracking practices: I know you think what youre doing is right and we admire your commitment... However...
Steve and his partner Sue (Frances McDormand) have been dispatched to rural Pennsylvania to convince the locals to allow their employer to tap into the natural resources buried beneath their picturesque fields. Everything proceeds apace for the silver-tongued salt-of-the-earth type he even makes romantic inroads with a teacher (Rosemarie DeWitt) until the arrival of a charismatic environmentalist (cowriter John Krasinski) who alerts the townspeople to the devastating side effects of having toxic chemicals pumped into their land.
And while the talent imbalance between Damon and Krasinski should make it inconceivable that the latter could triumph in a battle for hearts and minds, the films thoroughly insulting depiction of common folk takes care of that. Presented here as gullible rubes clamouring to buy the flavour of the day, what they really need is for Steves heart to grow three sizes so that he might see fit to save these simpletons from themselves.
God help you if youre buying what this film is selling.
