Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

Dear Kelly Reichardt,escapism is obviously not your forte. Wendy and Lucy, one of the surprisingly few films to come out of America about life during a recession, is a road movie lacking in any sort of excitement or shots of beautiful American highways. A broke woman (played by an almost anorexic Michelle Williams) is driving across the US to report for a job in another state. But her car breaks down and she loses her dog. Her unromantic struggle where there is no adventure but only an endless, tiring and boring fight against her own poverty and the cold-blooded systems in place forms much of the movie.There are hardly any people in the American small towns through which the woman drives. It is almost like a dead urban wasteland. The only queues are for people lining up to sell old bottles. That's how badly things have deteriorated. It is no wonder that crooked politicians want to bring in more people into Western nations in the form of immigrants.The film is completely devoid of any sort of narrative punctuation or shock value. So you would not find the woman seducing horny men or her indulging in hard drinking. Survival in the urban wasteland is boring. The bleak and rather dour visuals paint a picture of small town American suburbs as if a plague has descended upon them. Michelle Williams as the emotionally jaded and physically fragile young American woman fits the visuals and surroundings perfectly. Her relentless search for her dog in the face of ignorance and cruelty from the people around her tells a lot about the state of human relations in the modern world. Anyway, I like films with more escapism. I would have made this film differently. There isn't much wrong with your film I guess. But I am just a very subjective guy. I will check out more films by you, Kelly.Best Regards, Pimpin.(5.5/10)

Michelle Williams delivers a complex and layered performance in this film, as few of her peers can. Her chameleonesque abilities from one role to another continue to impress, whether the film(s) she is in measures up to her enormous talent. Recently, I watched and tried to like "Take this Waltz," but it was not possible despite the fact that I love seeing Michelle on screen (Brokeback Mountain, The Station Agent and Prozac Nation, to name a few) and wish Sarah Polley all the success she deserves (love your acting too, Sarah). Both actors typically outstrip their contemporaries; however, I digress. Wendy and Lucy captured my attention, made me smile and broke my heart, leaving many thoughts to ponder. Watch it and decide for yourself.

A young woman on her way to Alaska becomes stranded in a small Oregon town after her car breaks down, and she loses her beloved dog. This is based on a short story and it feels like one. It's a well-made little drama but not very substantial. Despite its short length, the pace is leisurely, and it gets off to a rambling start before the main story comes into focus. It is mostly a character study, and one can sympathize with the plight of the determined but vulnerable young woman. The characters feel real. Williams turns in a nicely understated performance. Also fine are Dalton as a kindly security guard and Patton as an auto mechanic.

Yes it does a good job of showing how quickly one can go from a shoestring budget to completely homeless with virtually nothing but the clothes on one's back. Relevant yes. Minimalist yes. Alas, minimalist does not always mean good. Sure, lack of soundtrack definitely does highlight her loneliness. Poorly written detour point and story though, probably by someone who has never had a dog they truly loved and depended on to keep them sane when everything else in their life has "gone to the dogs.". Having gone through the loss of my own canine emotional support, I know it is immediately traumatizing, and obsession with finding the pet can overtake everything else, but that doesn't excuse the idiotic things this girl does, and she doesn't seem particularly obsessed anyway. I don't see that she was so upset she was in shock, so I can only concur with one of the other reviewers that this girl seems emotionally stunted and lacking in basic street intelligence. She can walk all over the damn place, but when she's already had to spend money she hadn't planned on (tow plus fine), that's when she starts buying coffee and donuts and paying for taxis when she could surely have gotten within walking distance of the foster house by taking a bus! If she could spend this now, why shoplift and start the whole dang tumble down the hill? Not to mention that if your dog cab handle dry food, you don't suddenly introduce wet (canned) food unless you want a diarrhea fest in your car later on. Dry dog food also isn't THAT expensive if you're just trying to keep your pup alive for a couple weeks till you get where you're going, so why not just buy the stuff? And who isn't aware that a dozen aluminum cans will earn you a whole, hmm, maybe two cents? Sorry, but the glaringly poor view of how stupid the "average" person is when they're down to their last $500 is just inexcusable, not to mention her lack of real emotional reaction to the missing dog. I saw emotion for about 3 seconds at the chain link fence, and that's it. Sure, crying about it prior to that wouldn't directly accomplish anything, but it certainly would have been more realistic to have her have a moment when she's got to just let it all out than just "oh, now I have to look for my dog, one more thing that's holding up my journey."