The Homesman

Review

By Colton Gomez | 03/28/24 | 12:09 A.M. Mountain Time

Western, Thriller | Rated R | 2 hrs 2 min | Film Release Date: May 18, 2014

Hilary Swank (left) with Tommy Lee Jones (right). © Saban Films.

Tommy Lee Jones’s "The Homesman" leaves much to be desired for the paying audience member. This script has not suffered the rounds of rewrites and revisions and was in desperate need of a script doctor. What we have here is dead on arrival. I really don’t hate this movie. I wanted Jones to succeed. But it is an incoherent mess with very little happening and more training is needed for Jones as a director.

The acting from Jones and his co-star Hilary Swank is watchable and sometimes even enjoyable. However, it was not enough to sustain a 2-hour tone-deaf western. The effects of snow were shoddy, I did not get a firm grip on the geographical landscape of their six-week trek across the plains from Iowa to Missouri, and I cannot reasonably explain the reason for the movie to take place.

Swank’s character is charged with picking up and delivering a wagon of three women who have been declared by someone (their husbands, the Reverend, the town?) to be crazy. She is to deliver them to a Reverend in Missouri. Why? Why three crazy girls for the plot kick-off? Why Missouri?

The film starts with the routine of Swank’s character, Mary Bee Cuddy, as she plows her field, pumps water for supper, and hosts a known traveler passing by for dinner. It is here we first learn how extremely desperate she is for a husband, when she asks this man she is feeding dinner to, “Why not marry?” Her reasons for such an aggressive hunt for a husband are not entirely clear. She brings up the objective merits, such as her childbearing fitness, her cooking skills, her farming know-how, and simply that they would be a good team. None of these explain her desperation. Is it the social stigma of a 31-year-old single woman living alone, or the need for a loving relationship and a family, or that she is tired of being passed up? We do not get to see that. If she is hiding the truth from herself, then let us see it but keep her in the dark.

She passes through a town and meets up with Jones’s character (whose name I don’t remember), who she saves from being hanged and in exchange, recruits him for her journey. Swank’s character is shown to be strong, independent, and powerfully willed. But there are moments of extreme weakness that break from her built persona. Without seeing the steps to her broken down moments, she is strong, still faced, and then erupts into tears, with a still face the next morning. It is not enough to characterize her. We need hints and suggestions that while strong as she is, everyone has a breaking point. She mentions throughout the film that she needs Jones’s character and again I am confused about her motivations. Is her plan to woo him over the few weeks they spend together? She later gets lost when they get separated, so does she need him for navigation? How was she planning to get to Missouri, if that was the case? I don’t know. There are many things like this in the film that make me question the plot, story, and characters, but there are no answers for them. Some things come out of left field that are totally incongruous with what we have seen.

Speaking of plot, about the first half of the film is just plot. Things are happening, yes, but why are they happening? We get no answers. She farms, she feeds, she learns of this mission to deliver the girls, she volunteers (not entirely sure why), she meets Jones’s character, goes to the bank, picks up the girls one by one, and then the movie kind of starts when the first moment of consequence arises. Swank and Jones’s characters cross paths with a group of Native Americans who seem to be interested in whatever speculative valuables they may possess. Jones’s character sets loose a horse and the Native Americans chase after it, avoiding a worst-case scenario for the white folk. It was only slightly captivating because until here, we have only seen errands and now comes a problem for the character to solve.

I won’t spoil the rest of the movie, not because you want to see it, but because I know you’re bored just reading this review of the movie. To quickly summarize, Swank and Jones travel across the plains, moments of story happen, moments of plot happen, but never at the same time; one or two moments of character happen. Swank’s character should not have been the character we follow, we should have been following Jones and see him meet up with Swank. I can only guess that Jones’s character was for Swank’s, the most desperate attempt to get a husband that does not pan out which explains her actions later in the movie. A bizarre, wild, wild mess that is surprisingly not entirely unwatchable, but if you decide to watch it, be prepared for a whole lot of nothing to happen until something barely does. Money is certainly better spent elsewhere.

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Review by Colton Gomez

Colton Gomez earned his BA in Film Studies from Weber State University. He owns and operates ColtonGomez.com. Here, he covers new releases in theaters and on streaming. For short versions of his reviews, check out his LetterBoxd

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Summary

Western, Thriller

Rated R

2 hrs 2 min

"The Homesman" Release Date: May 18, 2014