Alexander Payne's Movies Ranked From Worst To Best

Few films will ever quite be made like Nebraska. It has a quiet, yet, solemn nature to it that meets with levity at the most emotional times.

We follow Woody Grant, a man who believes that he has a million-dollar fortune waiting for him in Nebraska because he has received word through the mail that he has 'won' the sweepstakes. At his steadily advancing age, he continually tries to make the long journey from his home in Montana to Nebraska to collect his sum. In the end, he is taken by his youngest son David to the marketing agency to retrieve his money.

It's Bruce Dern's finest hour on screen and he brings across all the pain and weariness of advancing years with a really light, yet dedicated touch. June Squibb too is brilliant as his wife Kate as she continually lambasts him for his delusion of winning a grand prize.

It has far more in common with Payne's earlier work than his latest efforts in many ways and follows the same themes that those movies did. Even the wit of the screenplay is pulled back to the Payne of the early '00s, rather than the more dramatic tone that his subsequent films touched upon.