Witherspoon Gone ‘Wild’

Based on the best-selling memoir of the same name by Cheryl Strayed, Wild recounts a harrowing journey, both emotional and physical. Reeling from the death of her mother, Cheryl (Reese Witherspoon) has entered a downward spiral of sex and drugs. So she sets off on a solo 1,000-mile trek along the Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail. Nick Hornby (author of High Fidelity) adapted the book for a screenplay and Jean-Marc Vallee (Dallas Buyers Club) directed the film. It’s certainly got some big names attached to it, but judging from the trailer, that may not be enough to drag it away from some alone-in-the-wilderness-film cliches. However, it looks like the film is full of stunning landscape shots — and Witherspoon is receiving rave reviews for her performance. Wild opens Dec. 25 at Kahala Theatre. >>

PAIGE: It was weird when she said, “My mom was the love of my life.”

CHRISTINA: I thought that was sweet.

NICOLE: It’s weird to say your parents are the love of your life. You usually say significant others are the love of your life. I thought it was weird.

CHRISTINA: I think you can have loves of your life who are not significant others. It doesn’t have to be exclusive to that.

PAIGE: And then the next scene was about how she sleeps with anyone who asks and she’s all ashamed. Is that because her mother was the love of her life?

NICOLE: Is she walking to find herself?

CHRISTINA: Maybe just to get away from her everyday life.

NICOLE: I really like Reese Witherspoon though.

JAIMIE: I don’t know how I feel about her.

JAMES: She was really good in Election. She’s good in self-deprecating roles.

JAIMIE: I feel really lukewarm about this trailer.

CHRISTINA: Yeah. This movie has had a lot of buzz surrounding it. But I don’t know if it looks all that great. Especially the part in the end, where she says, “Everything led me here.” What is so good about where she is? I hate when people say stuff like that.

JAIMIE: It reminds me of Into The Wild, which I loved.

JAMES: Do you think the person dies in the end?

CHRISTINA: No, the woman who wrote the book it’s based on is the same person who does those “Dear, Sugar” advice columns.

JAMES: Oh, on The Rumpus. She never replied to my letter.

CHRISTINA: What did you write to her about?

JAMES: If I should trek into the wild … There are so many cliches in this trailer. Like when she sees the fox. And then they look at each other as if there is some connection, like they have some sort of understanding.

PAIGE: I thought she thought it was her mom.

NICOLE: And then the fox was just like, “I hate you” and runs away.

JAIMIE: I feel like there are a lot of wilderness movies where the person is alone and they see an animal and they think they have some sort of emotional connection with it, but the animal probably doesn’t care.