Every David Lynch Film Ranked From Worst To Best
6. The Straight Story
A title both ironic and beautifully, plaintively true, The Straight Story is Lynch taking the p*ss in reality and spinning an earnest fictional yarn. "Lynchian" is a reductive and rigid synonym for "weird" that undermines his own work and flatters those who draw comparison to the incomparable. This isn't a Lynchian Lynch film; it's a film other great filmmakers could feasibly make, for the most part, but Lynch made it, proving himself far more eclectic than even his greatest contemporaries.
Lynch is a genius surrealist, but this outlier of his latter career is the stuff of its title: a lyrical and romantic tale with just enough stark pathos to not succumb to the saccharine of its woozy, folky soundtrack and gorgeous rural textures. Alvin sets off on the road on a redemptive lawnmower-assisted journey to make peace with his estranged brother. The road acts as a metaphor for the necessary, healing passage of time and operates as a narrative platform on which to explore the less-than-gorgeous close-mindedness of America, the America that judges pre-marital sex while propping itself up by selling it in a film that, in contrast to Lynch's other work, celebrates the bond of family. His sweetest and most indistinct film is somewhat idiosyncratic, at least in terms of its just off-kilter dialogue.
"Alvin, you're gonna get blown right off the road, that's what I'm afraid!"