Film Review: STILLWATER (2021): Matt Damon Excels in a Mostly Conventional Drama

Stillwater Review

Stillwater (2021) Film Review, a movie directed by Tom McCarthy, and starring Matt Damon, Abigail Breslin, Camille Cottin, Lilou Siauvaud, Deanna Dunagan, Idir Azougli, Anne Le Ny, Moussa Maaskri, Isabelle Tanakil, Naidra Ayadi, Pierre Piacentino, Jean-Marc Michelangeli and William Nadylam.

Tom McCarthy’s new film, Stillwater, plays out similarly to his Oscar-winning film Spotlight. The big difference this time is that McCarthy’s picture won’t be taking home the Academy Award for Best Picture. Stillwater is a thriller and a talky drama with good performances throughout but it just doesn’t have the thrills necessary to justify its padded two hour-plus running time. With that said, the film features a performance by Matt Damon that is among his best recent work and it’s easily his most nuanced acting since 2015’s The Martian.

Before getting into the film’s storyline, it should be noted that the film is supposedly inspired by the case of Amanda Knox, an American college student who was convicted of killing her roommate in Italy. She was acquitted years later. This piece of information may be true but it is irrelevant to how much you will enjoy the new film because Stillwater is set in France and the movie contains scenes that could most likely never happen in real life.

Matt Damon stars as Bill Baker, an average Joe who is widowed and lives in Oklahoma. He is looking for a new job as the movie opens. His daughter Allison (Abigail Breslin of Little Miss Sunshine) was a college student who ended up in jail in France for supposedly killing her female roommate/lover. The setting of the film is soon changed to Marseilles in France. When Bill goes to visit Allison, she gives him a note to give to a lawyer that contains information which can help prove she’s innocent. The lawyer tells Bill there’s nothing she could do but Bill doesn’t want to disappoint his daughter.

While staying in a hotel. Bill meets Virginie (Camille Cottin), a female theater performer who has a young daughter named Maya (Lilou Siauvaud). In a twist of events, Bill helps Maya out when she’s locked out of her room and Virginie thus grows a liking to Bill even going as far as letting him live with them after he obtains work when he decided to stay in France to help his daughter prove her innocence. Of course, this being the movies, Maya doesn’t have a father figure in her life and Bill is just the guy to fill the void in her life.

Bill obtains pictures that could have the image of the young man Allison claims is responsible for the murder she is supposedly wrongfully accused of. And, yes, Allison recognizes someone in one of the photos which leads Bill to try to locate the guy. Bill gets beat up and the move shifts focus to his relationship with Virginie and Maya before returning back to thriller territory as Bill tries to get to the bottom of what exactly happened regarding the murder.

Damon, who wears a baseball cap for much of the film, is great. It’s easy to see why he was attracted to the role. Bill may be a screw up but he loves his daughter and will do anything to prove her innocence even going so far as to pay a private detective for assistance. Damon makes us root for the character initially until things get very inane in terms of the plot. When Bill finally finds the supposed murderer, he does something that doesn’t seem logical especially considering his desire to protect Maya from harm. The movie falls apart towards the end and it’s a shame because Damon’s performance is complex and well rendered as a blue collar guy trying to find justice for his daughter. Breslin somewhat holds her own beside Damon although it’s hard given Damon’s very showy performance in the picture.

Damon’s scenes with Cottin and Siauvaud are pretty standard friendship sequences. They are well developed but they don’t particularly stand out at any point. The most interesting conversations here revolve around Bill’s reactions to live theater which are funny since he’s pretty much just a TV guy himself.

Stillwater is conventional in many respects but the ending is not. The film’s ending leaves the viewer questioning the events of the movie and how they have affected the main characters. It’s an interesting way to end an otherwise by-the-numbers drama.

Tom McCarthy is a good director. He gets the best from his performers but also lets his movies play out slowly, however, and this is a choice that doesn’t work too well for an action thriller. The film may not want to be categorized as a thriller although it is certainly being advertised as one.

Stillwater is an OK film. I wasn’t too bored even though some scenes were a little redundant but a thriller audience may look for a much faster pace. If you want to see Damon in top form, however, he is definitely at the top of his game here.

Rating: 6/10

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