Nebraska

"Low-key, wistful, and disarmingly droll, Alexander Payne’s father-son bonding tale Nebraska distils the best bits from his earlier films Sideways and About Schmidt and delivers something of a spiritual cousin to ‘70s-era road movies such as Wim Wenders’ King of the Road and Jerry Schatzberg’s Scarecrow."

"A wistful ode to small-town Midwestern life and the quixotic dreams of stubborn old men."

"A pitch-perfect performance from Dern graces Alexander Payne’s latest roadmovie – another bittersweet meditation on the sad, comic futility of life."

"More than ever Payne allows the humour to rise up gently from his story rather than burst through it."

"Hard times are part of the picture, and so are hard people."

"Nebraska may not be startlingly new, and sometimes we can see the epiphanies looming up over the distant horizon; the tone is, moreover, lighter and more lenient than in earlier pictures like Sideways. But it is always funny and smart."

"A bittersweet father-son road trip through an emotionally economically parched homeland."

"A charming road movie that develops into a full-blown study of life and roots, offering a beautiful insight into the way families migrate and change."