It must be the week for films about 14-year-old boys This film strikes me as a look at a couple of steps up from beasts of the southern wild Ellis lives with his mother and father on a houseboat in the River Delta. He and his best friend, Neckbone–who lives with his uncle, an oyster diver–encounter and fall in with an escaped convict, Mud (Matthew McConaughey) returned to his old stomping grounds to try to reunite with his girlfriend (Reese Witherspoon) He’s a wanted man, and his statement of one true love appeals to Ellis whose own parents (well played by Tom McKinnon and Sarah Paulson) are going through a rocky spiral downward Some excellent supporting acting from Sam Shepard as an enigmatic neighbor There’s a little bit too much heavy-handed symbolism and telegraphing about the dangers of poisonous snakes, but this is a good look at romantic, adolescent emotions – – regardless of the age of the adolescent McConaughey turns in a fine performance. It’s nice to see another film that looks at people outside the upper and middle classes and presents them with some dignity and complexity