Stillwater (2021) Review

 "Life is brutal."
-Allison Baker



After his daughter is convicted of murder, Bill Baker (Matt Damon) travels from Oklahoma to Marseille, France to help in anyway he can.  Running out of legal options, Bill charges headlong into trying to prove his daughter's innocence on his own. 


What Works:

The strongest part of the movie is the relationship between Bill and a mother and daughter he meets in Marseille.  Camille Cottin and Lilou Siauvaud both do an excellent job and they have great chemistry with Damon.  I actually would rather have watched a movie about just the three of them instead of Damon getting his daughter out of prison.  Their scenes are far more interesting.

The second half of the movie has a few twists and turns that I wasn't expecting.  There is a time jump, which has Bill getting more settled into Marseille.  That's when the movie gets decently interesting.  I liked seeing Bill integrated into life in France.  


What Sucks:

This movie really feels like two movies jammed into one.  The dynamic between the characters I mentioned above is one, with Bill trying to free his daughter being the second.  These stories don't mesh together particularly well and I wish we had gotten two separate movies instead of this overstuffed one.  This movie is way too long because of it.

The first half of the movie is a snoozefest.  Not much of interest happens.  It's fairly repetitive with Bill struggling to understand the culture and the language while making little progress.  It's a story that simply isn't told in a very interesting way.

Finally, the entire storyline of trying to get Bill's daughter out of prison is not well done, which is a problem because this is the premise of the entire movie.  There is very little tension, not much connection between Bill and Allison (Abigail Breslin), and it never captured my attention.  I kept wanting to go back to Bill, Virginie (Cottin), and Maya (Siauvaud).  That's a big problem.


Verdict:

I can't say Stillwater is a bad movie.  It's certainly competent, but it's simply dull.  The first half is a slog to get through and the prison storyline never clicks.  Aspects of the film are very good, but it isn't enough for me to recommend.

 5/10: Meh 


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