June Squibb received her only Oscar nomination to date for her performance as Kate Grant in Nebraska.
Nebraska is an excellent movie about Woody Grant (Bruce Dern), an old man who decides to take a trip from Montana to Nebraska with his son in order to claim a million-dollar Mega Sweepstakes Marketing prize. It's a bittersweet, poignant movie that benefits greatly from a terrific ensemble, the fantastic direction from Alexander Payne, Bob Nelson's funny yet deep screenplay and a wonderful, stunning cinematography. Will Forte gives an underrated, quietly powerful performance that compliments Bruce Dern's one extremely well.
Kate Grant is Woody's tart-tongued, forthright wife and it's actually a pretty great role: it truly allows an actress to steal every scene she's in and June Squibb is perfectly up to the task. She has a pitch-perfect comedic timing and even better line-delivery that makes her a true comedic force on screen - and she's indeed hilarious ("Look at your father, he's useless! His mother spoiled him!"). Her character actually could have easily come off as annoying considering that she spends most of the time bitching about other people, bragging about how desireable she was when she was younger and criticizing her husband for deciding to take the trip but Squibb manages to make Kate a surprisingly endearing and likeable character. And she has some truly golden scenes: her almost iconic scene at the cemetery, in which she candidly talks about Woody's relatives sex lives, is priceless and Squibb makes the most out of it thanks to her aforementioned timing and delivery - "I ain't fiddling with no cows titties I'm a city girls" and "This is Woody's little sister Rose. She was only nineteen when she was killed in a car wreck near Wausa. What a whore" are among the best of her brilliant lines, and she nails them. But it's not the only scene that she steals: a later scene at a restaurant in which she again talks about Woody's friend desire to "get in her bloomers", another one in which she distracts a couple while her sons puts back in their house the air compressor they previously stole... these are all terrific moments in which Squibb simply thrives.
Her work, though, isn't quite flawless. She doesn't have a single bad scene but the role itself is written as a bit too broad. I would say that overall both the screenplay and Squibb are great but there a few moments in which both falter: the screenplay sometimes makes Kate such an exaggerated character that she lacks a bit of credibility; and while Squibb is mostly fantastic in the role she herself is a bit too broad and maybe she could have afforded to tone down a bit sometimes. It's not a big complaint about her performance as ultimately it is still extremely funny but sometimes it's just a bit too much.
Actually, my favorite moments of her performance are her more serious ones. She has a fantastic chemistry with Bruce Dern and even if she spends most of the movie complaining about him Squibb does a great job in showing an underlying tenderness and affection in Kate's relationship with Woody and when their history is finally revealed towards the end of the movie their marriage gains a new, heartbreaking dimension. The highlight of Squibb's performance is easily her confrontation with the family in which she defends Woody and tell them not to dare to ask him for money: it's a powerful, fantastic moment and Squibb is amazing in showing the loyalty of Kate for her husband no matter what. And the scene at the hospital in which she softly kisses Woody and tenderly tells him "You big idiot" is a small but heartbreaking moments that sums up Woody's and Kate's whole relationship beautifully.
Overall this is a pretty great performance from June Squibb who delivers a performance that is hilarious and touching in equal parts. It's not quite a perfect performance and she might have handled a few moments differently but it's still a rather wonderful effort that is essential to the movie's success. I'm probably being a bit too scrict now as she's close to a higher rating, but for the time being I'm confident with this rating.
4/5
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