Wendy and Lucy | Rotten Tomatoes

Wendy and Lucy

R

Released Dec 10, 2008

1h 20m

Drama

List

86%

186 Reviews

Tomatometer

67%

10,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

Wendy (Michelle Williams), a near-penniless drifter, is traveling to Alaska in search of work, and her only companion is her dog, Lucy. Already perilously close to losing everything, Wendy hits a bigger bump in the road when her old car breaks down and she is arrested for shoplifting dog food. When she posts bail and returns to retrieve Lucy, she finds that the dog is gone, prompting a frantic search for her pet.

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Critics Consensus

Michelle Williams gives a heartbreaking performance in Wendy and Lucy, a timely portrait of loneliness and struggle.

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Stanley Kauffmann

The New Republic

In happy sum, Reichardt is one more of the current American directors, most of them still young, who are endowing our film world with pleasure and hope.

Mar 27, 2015

Full Review

Ryan Gilbey

New Statesman

I expect there will be more stories like Wendy and Lucy's in the coming months and years. The wonder will be if they articulate their compassion and distress with such unforced eloquence.

Mar 27, 2015

Full Review

J. R. Jones

Chicago Reader

The climax is a heartbreaker, and in its haunting finale the movie recalls no less than Mervyn LeRoy's Depression-era classic I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang.

Mar 27, 2015

Full Review

Eve Tushnet

Patheos

Promises a harrowing depiction of poverty and its Catch-22s and its moral judgment and shames, and delivers on that, so hey, you can’t say you didn’t know what it would be like.

Aug 12, 2022

Full Review

Brian Eggert

Deep Focus Review

Delivers a modern-day version of Vittorio De Sica's Umberto D. (1952),

Rated: 4/4

Feb 21, 2022

Full Review

Jason Best

Movie Talk

Watching Wendy lose her precarious grip on everything she holds dear is quietly heartbreaking - and a bracing reminder in these straitened times of how easy it is for someone like her to be tipped over the edge when there isn't a safety net around.

Nov 21, 2020

Full Review

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Allen H

Williams is a good actress but unable to carry this given so little to play against. It might have worked if she had better chemistry with the dog. I just had the feeling she never had a pet dog.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/20/23

Full Review

AFAN O

Melancholy to a T. The actress does a good job showing us how difficult it is to be homeless.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

08/21/22

Full Review

Audience Member

My impression of this movie is that it moves sideways like a train on a railroad. I felt so sad about the shot of her opening the door after she finished checking each dog one by one to find his dog at the health center.Although the production was not flashy, the detailed portrayal of the film helped it stick in my mind.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

02/03/23

Full Review

Audience Member

This is for me personally, without question, the most depressing movie that i have ever watched . it affected me for days afterward . i suppose that it's because i was homeless for a time in my youth . that being said, it's a wonderful film.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

02/17/23

Full Review

dave s

Filmmakers like Kelly Reichardt provide a glimmer of hope for the future of film, a medium currently dominated by what appears to be nothing more than prequels, sequels and mindless action. Wendy and Lucy is a deliberate, quiet and contemplative story of a woman (Michelle Williams) traveling with her dog from Indiana to Alaska to find employment. Problems arise when she arrives in a small Oregon town where she finds herself short of cash with a broken-down car and legal problems when caught shoplifting food for her dog. Short on dialogue and plot, Reichardt focuses on one character's seemingly hopeless situation. Williams gives a brilliantly restrained performance and the heartbreaking final scene provides proof that people in desperate situations are able to make wise decisions, regardless of the bad decisions that have led them to their current plight.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

Full Review

Audience Member

This is pretty spare, hangdog, indy filmmaking. I know Williams loves the indy thing, but this one was one to pass on, imo. There's just too little of what I watch movies for, like plot, learning about the character(s), character development, humor, perceptive writing, clever dialogue... We know nothing about Wendy- who she really is, why she left Indiana, what she hopes to do in Alaska besides find a job. I thought the story line about the dog was a distraction from her more than a MacGuffin or something to really drive action or conflict. 2.2 stars

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

01/20/23

Full Review

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Kelly Reichardt

Director

Michelle Williams

Wendy

Will Patton

Mechanic

Will Oldham

Icky

John Robinson

Andy

Wally Dalton

Security Guard

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Synopsis

Wendy (Michelle Williams), a near-penniless drifter, is traveling to Alaska in search of work, and her only companion is her dog, Lucy. Already perilously close to losing everything, Wendy hits a bigger bump in the road when her old car breaks down and she is arrested for shoplifting dog food. When she posts bail and returns to retrieve Lucy, she finds that the dog is gone, prompting a frantic search for her pet.

Director: Kelly Reichardt
Producer: Joshua Blum, Todd Haynes, Phil Morrison, Rajen Savjani
Screenwriter: Jonathan Raymond, Jonathan Raymond, Kelly Reichardt
Distributor: Oscilloscope Pictures
Production Co: Glass Eye Pix, Filmscience
Rating: R (Language)
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Dec 10, 2008, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Mar 8, 2017
Box Office (Gross USA): $856.9K
Runtime: 1h 20m

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