The Homesman

Name: The Homesman
Genre: Drama, Western
Released: November 14, 2014
Duration: 122 min
Rating: 68
Cast: David Dencik, Grace Gummer, Hilary Swank, James Spader, John Lithgow

2014

METASCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 43 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 70 Ratings

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6.5

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6.5	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 70 Ratings

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The Homesman

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Movie Details & Credits

Roadside Attractions | Release Date: November 14, 2014 | R

Starring: David Dencik, Grace Gummer, Hilary Swank, James Spader, John Lithgow, Miranda Otto, Sonja Richter, Tim Blake Nelson, Tommy Lee Jones

Summary: When three women living on the edge of the American frontier are driven mad by harsh pioneer life, the task of saving them falls to the pious, independent-minded Mary Bee Cuddy (Hilary Swank). Transporting the women by covered wagon to Iowa, she soon realizes just how daunting the journey will be, and employs a low-life drifter, GeorgeWhen three women living on the edge of the American frontier are driven mad by harsh pioneer life, the task of saving them falls to the pious, independent-minded Mary Bee Cuddy (Hilary Swank). Transporting the women by covered wagon to Iowa, she soon realizes just how daunting the journey will be, and employs a low-life drifter, George Briggs (Tommy Lee Jones), to join her. Together, they traverse the harsh Nebraska Territories marked by stark beauty, psychological peril and constant threat.… Expand

Director: Tommy Lee Jones

Genre(s): Drama, Western

Rating: R

Runtime: 122 min

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Critic Reviews

100

Andrew O'Hehir

Nov 13, 2014

Jones, as always, knows what he’s doing. In only his second feature as a director, the laconic 68-year-old star has made a wrenching, relentless and anti-heroic western that stands among the year’s most powerful American films. Not everyone will like The Homesman, but if you see it you won’t soon forget it. Read full review

McClatchy-Tribune News Service Roger Moore

Nov 11, 2014

Jones tells this story with care and a lack of hurry, a pace to fit an age when people traveled no faster than two mules pulling a wagon could carry them. It’s “True Grit” and “The African Queen” with a moment of “Lawrence of Arabia,” period-perfect and a total immersion in this world. Read full review

Anthony Lane

Nov 10, 2014

What matters most about The Homesman, which Jones co-wrote and directed, is how willingly, and movingly, he cedes the stage to Hilary Swank, as Clint Eastwood did in “Million Dollar Baby.” Read full review

Lou Lumenick

Nov 12, 2014

Very much a feminist Western — one painting a vivid picture of how difficult it was for even a strong and determined woman to survive in frontier days. Read full review

Ignatiy Vishnevetsky

Nov 12, 2014

Integrity and personality can go a long way, especially in a movie as unquestionably flawed as The Homesman. Tommy Lee Jones’ off-beat minor-key Western has plenty of virtues, but straightness isn’t one of them. Read full review

Christopher Gray

Nov 9, 2014

If there's any ambiguity to be found in the film's prolonged last gasps, which reach for tragedy, but only sow more epistemic confusion, it's of a mawkish and unpalatable variety. Read full review

Mick LaSalle

Nov 20, 2014

The film occupies that peculiar space that many of us would prefer to believe doesn’t exist, a movie that’s worthy but often inert, by turns enriching and enervating: a good boring movie. Read full review

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User Reviews

Proteus

Dec 3, 2014

Great great movie. Tommy Lee's stamp is all over this. Unpredictable and weirdly realistic story. Original characters. Original story. Go see this movie

2 of 2 users found this helpful20

avergonzata

Dec 21, 2014

Being from Nebraska, I was bothered by a couple of details. First of all, it's not ungodly cold (or snowy, for that matter) weeks into May. Secondly, the pronunciation of Kearney (or Kearny, as in "Fort Kearny") is "car-knee," as every Platte Valley native knows. Verisimilitude aside, thisBeing from Nebraska, I was bothered by a couple of details. First of all, it's not ungodly cold (or snowy, for that matter) weeks into May. Secondly, the pronunciation of Kearney (or Kearny, as in "Fort Kearny") is "car-knee," as every Platte Valley native knows. Verisimilitude aside, this movie bothered me, in a good way. Bleak, expansive nothingness nearly drove ME mad in the 1970s... I can't imagine trying to survive there in a sod house a century and a half earlier. Fun fact: they mentioned Falls City, NE, which was the setting for Hilary Swank's Oscar-winning role in Boys Don't Cry. See this movie. It will trouble you. And think about the people who tough it out down there the next time you fly over.… Expand

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

LowbrowCinema

Nov 24, 2014

THE HOMESMAN has patches of brilliance but is ultimately too uneven to work in any totality. But never before has there been a film that so miserably documents the psychological impact of the pioneer spirit. It will strike you dead. And then there is Hilary Swank. So perfect. So sublime.THE HOMESMAN has patches of brilliance but is ultimately too uneven to work in any totality. But never before has there been a film that so miserably documents the psychological impact of the pioneer spirit. It will strike you dead. And then there is Hilary Swank. So perfect. So sublime. When the film moves on beyond her, it totally loses sense of urgency until a brilliant ending where everything is lost, everything empty, futile, useless. Dance on your grave. You're dead. But ultimately, I left THE HOMESMAN thinking of only Hilary Swank. How does one so fully inhabit another human being?… Expand

1 of 2 users found this helpful11

jeremyp

Dec 7, 2014

A bleak and depressing story that never lifts itself out of it's deep cynicism. The actors are superb but the material drags them down. What really kills the film is the empty roles given the three "madwomen" reduced mostly to catatonic stares, which robs the story of badly needed centralA bleak and depressing story that never lifts itself out of it's deep cynicism. The actors are superb but the material drags them down. What really kills the film is the empty roles given the three "madwomen" reduced mostly to catatonic stares, which robs the story of badly needed central solidity, and then it gets worse.… Expand

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

foxgrove

Nov 26, 2014

Although The Homesman is beautifully crafted with some striking visuals its uneven tone has a detrimental effect on the movie's end result. Things start promisingly as we observe Hilary Swank going about her daily life on the farm, but as soon as she starts trekking across the prairie toAlthough The Homesman is beautifully crafted with some striking visuals its uneven tone has a detrimental effect on the movie's end result. Things start promisingly as we observe Hilary Swank going about her daily life on the farm, but as soon as she starts trekking across the prairie to Iowa with Tommy Lee Jones and three mad women in tow the interest quickly starts to dissipate. By the end I felt as if I had been on the journey with them and wasn't far off crazy myself. Swank and Jones are a good pairing with the latter providing some fitfully amusing moments. Swank is at her most outstanding in a very moving scene in which she asks Jones to marry her.
Contrary to what the critics have been saying the film is at its best when the surprise exit of a major character allows the film to remove itself from the boredom of the plains. The introduction of other players, notably James Spader (hamming it up deliciously) and Meryl Streep each in their own singular scene, injects some much needed drama into proceedings. This last half hour does, in fact, hint at how good the film could have been had it taken another route.… Expand

2 of 2 users found this helpful20

everett

Mar 8, 2015

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. It's been stated here that one of the main flaws is the emptiness of the roles of the three madwomen, and I agree with that. We do briefly see where they're coming from, but after that, the way they remain speechless seems like lazy writing, especially the one who just says "Toc,"; it all becomes unintentionally comic. And I just don't understand why Cuddy does what she does near the end. None of it, the whole sequence of events that leads to the final one. Is she really that desperate? Isn't this film supposed to be "feminist," about an empowered woman? She, and three empty heads, do not add up to empowerment. One review called the movie a "vanity project." I assume it was referring to the star/director Tommy Lee Jones, and in the end, I'd have to agree. Hilary Swank, on the other hand, was her usual brilliant self.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

sammi9090

May 13, 2015

Yay. A return to the archaic age of film making where native Americans were depicted as murderous savages via propaganda. I guess I'm supposed to dig this film despite it's slooooow, draggging pace because it's so oddly disjointed it appears trendily independent. Not so. And really?Yay. A return to the archaic age of film making where native Americans were depicted as murderous savages via propaganda. I guess I'm supposed to dig this film despite it's slooooow, draggging pace because it's so oddly disjointed it appears trendily independent. Not so. And really? There are a total of 3 crazy women in a small town...and they all HAPPEN to come from Iowa? Yuck. Skip this one folks.… Expand

0 of 3 users found this helpful03

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