Film Review: WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING (2022): Delia Owens’ Book is Brought to Life but the Film Feels Like Cliff’s Notes

Where the Crawdads Sing Review

Where the Crawdads Sing (2022) Film Review, a movie directed by Olivia Newman, written by Lucy Alibar and Delia Owens and starring Daisy Edgar-Jones, Taylor John Smith, Harris Dickinson, David Strathairn, Michael Hyatt, Sterling Macer Jr., Logan Macrae, Bill Kelly, Ahna O’Reilly, Garret Dillahunt, Jojo Regina, Luke David Blumm, Blue Clarke, Will Bundon, Jayson Warner Smith, Dane Rhodes, Eric Ladin and Robert Larriviere.

Filmmaker Olivia Newman brings to life Delia Owens’ multi-faceted book, Where the Crawdads Sing, in a movie that feels like an outline of the source material that is not fully fleshed out. That being said, the movie has some interesting themes and makes some choices in adapting the book that work to the film’s advantage. There couldn’t have been a better set of actresses chosen to play the protagonist of the book, Kya Clark, than Daisy Edgar-Jones and Jojo Regina. Even though those performances are excellent, though, the script does them an injustice by oversimplifying some of the book’s complex themes which are fed to the audience in an easy-to-understand way that rips the complexity out of the story at times.

As the movie opens in 1969, Kya is being taken into custody for the murder of one Chase Andrews (Harris Dickinson). This film’s backstory begins in North Carolina in 1952 where the abused Kya starts to see her other family members abandon the wicked abusive father (Garret Dillahunt) who nobody wants to be around. While her family ultimately leaves her, Kya ends up being abandoned by the dad, himself, as well. This leaves Kya to fend for herself. Right from the beginning of the movie, things happen too fast. Just a few minutes in, we have a young woman being charged with murder and when we flash back in time, her family history is given the Cliff’s Notes treatment which leaves it hard to sympathize with Kya’s mom (Ahna O’Reilly) who needed to be fleshed out a whole lot more.

Kya, as a young girl (Regina) walks around barefoot, is made fun of by her peers and spells “dog” backwards. She is in need of love and guidance, and she finds that love and guidance through the character of Tate Walker (played at different ages by Luke David Blumm and Taylor John Smith). Tate teaches her what she needs to know to live a fuller life. They even develop true feelings of admiration for one another. Also featured in the story are the important characters of Mabel (Michael Hyatt) and Jumpin’ (Sterling Macer Jr.) who more or less employ Kya “off the books” to bring them supplies needed for their business. How else would Kya survive in the fierce world in which she has become accustomed to?

One of the most pivotal roles of the movie is lawyer Tom Milton (David Strathairn) who comes to Kya’s aid as she sits in a jail cell barefoot being accused of murdering the nasty Chase. Milton is a cliched character. He’s the lawyer who comes out of retirement for one last case and must save the day. Strathairn was once an abusive dad in Dolores Claiborne and now he’s the salvation for a girl who is the victim of abuse here. He’s a good actor but the role seems to be a bit too underwritten for him to have much to work with here.

It feels like the ingredients of Where the Crawdads Sing are taken from movies like A Time to Kill, The Spitfire Grill and The Notebook, to name a few similar pictures in terms of the themes found in the new film which was produced by Reese Witherspoon. You have the justified murder theme, the abusive background story line and the love story which were all themes that were found in the aforementioned earlier pictures.

The character of Chase Andrews is the movie’s biggest problem as he’s a really ill-conceived character. He’s the catalyst for the plot to take flight but only works in spurts. Instead of making him plausible, the movie turns Chase into a cardboard cutout who simply serves the logistics of the plot.

That being said, the movie has a heart thanks to Daisy Edgar-Jones and Jojo Regina. They make Kya a relatable character who we care about throughout the movie. Regina, in particular, makes Kya likable while Edgar-Jones makes her strong and determined. You’ll stick through this movie thanks to these two fine performances if you are not turned off by some of the lack of depth of the other characters.

I also found the performance of Taylor John Smith to be rather admirable. Smith gives the character of Tate the requisite subtext to fill in the blanks that the movie seems to display at times regarding its development of the characters outside of Kya. Smith and Edgar-Jones have some interesting chemistry much of which is saved for the end of the movie.

There is some predictability found in the trial that the movie prominently displays. The audience won’t have to overthink where the movie is going but the dramatic tension keeps the movie moving forward in the proper direction. It’s a crowd-pleasing movie, for the most part, but with more developed supporting characters, it could have been a much better film.

Kya is known as the Marsh Girl in the film and the crawdads play a small role in the plot which I’ll leave you to discover for yourself. If you’re looking for a movie that is an alternative to summer blockbusters, you may find the literary adaptation of Where the Crawdads Sing to be suitable enough thanks to Edgar-Jones. However, this movie won’t be remembered too much after this summer unless you are a hopeless romantic who really relates to Kya’s story in which case this movie could be a treasure for you to behold. Other people will be looking at some of the flat characterizations and wishing Olivia Newman could have done a bit more here with them. It’s still a noble project for the simple fact that it has a big heart and takes a few creative risks here and there. I’m on the fence in terms of truly recommending it but the film will find an appreciative audience, nonetheless.

Rating: 6.5/10

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