Genre Guesstimation – Wild (2014) – Encore Review

The idea behind this feature (Genre Guesstimation) is for me to watch a bunch of new movies (or ones that I haven’t seen many times) from the chosen monthly GG genre in order to expand my knowledge of movies within that particular genre.

This month’s genre has been chosen by Paul of the People’s Movies and we will be reviewing our favorite Loners in Film.

Please get me your submissions by the 25th of Mar by sending them to lonerpaul@movierob.net

Try to think out of the box! Great choice Paul!

Let’s see if I felt that this movie would be worthy of being in the company of my others favorite movies in the genre of Loners in Film……

“The nicest lipstick in the world can’t help a girl, if she doesn’t take care of her personal hygiene.” – Saleswoman

Number of Times Seen – Twice (15 Jan 2015 and 9 Mar 2021)

Link to original review – Here

Brief Synopsis – A young woman with a troubled past tries to get her life back on track by going on an adventure all by herself across the Pacific Crest Trail.

My Take on it – Really interesting look at the power of one’s own aspirations and convictions.

This film is based on the true story of how taking on a 1000 mile trek was the way a young woman chose to take in order to get her life back on track.

Reese Witherspoon is superb in the lead role and was quite deserving of her Oscar nomination for Best Actress for for work in this role.

She does a wonderful job making her character look as if she has gone thru the trek itself with minimal provisions and supplies, not to mention normal facilities along her journey.

The character is shown without any makeup with adds so much to the realism of this kind of role.

The fact that Witherspoon was willing to take on such a “plain” role says so much about her great choices for realistic roles like this one.

The overall story is great, but besides the main character, none of those she meets along the way are developed in any significant way which takes away a bit from the way one looks at this kind of journey because we only really understand her reasoning for doing this, but not the others around her.

Unfortunately, this kind of story has been done before and besides the vulnerability of the main character, they don;t give the viewer enough here to savor along the way.

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – Director Jean-Marc Vallée would not let Reese Witherspoon read the instruction manual to the tent, nor the stove. All of the frustration shown on-screen was genuine. (From IMDB)

Genre Grandeur Worthy? – Not really. Witherspoon is great in the lead role, but the story itself isn’t powerful enough.

Rating – Globe Worthy (7/10) (upgrade from original review)