Mississippi Grind

A brace of fine performances from Ben Mendelsohn and Ryan Reynolds are at the heart of this bittersweet buddy movie that pleasingly brings to mind great character-driven dramas such as Robert Altman's California Split and John Schlesinger's Midnight Cowboy. Mendelsohn plays Gerry, an increasingly desperate, terminally lonely gambling addict in hock to the local loan shark (played with icy brilliance by Alfre Woodard, who juggles calls from her troublesome teen while calling in the bone-breakers). Gerry strikes up an unlikely friendship with free-spirited stranger Curtis (Reynolds), who proposes escape in the form of a make-or-break gambling trip to New Orleans. Mendelsohn skilfully and subtly sketches Gerry as a complex character who can fascinate and frustrate at the same time, but it is Reynolds, hitherto struggling in chiselled leading-man roles, who really breaks out, delivering a layered, careful performance as a man whose apparent happy-go-lucky spirit disguises his own sadness and who might need Gerry as much as Gerry needs him. The loose, meandering structure may be a little leisurely for some, and the ending might falter just a tad, but otherwise this is a road trip well worth taking.