In an effort to battle her demons and cleanse her soul following the death of her mother (Laura Dern) which predicated her foray into hard drug use and indiscriminate sexual liaisons, unseasoned hiker Cheryl Strayed (Reese Witherspoon) embarked by foot on the 2,500 plus mile Pacific Crest Trail, which traverses the West Coast from Mexico to Canada. Wild, Jean-Marc Vallee's follow-up to Dallas Buyers Club with a screenplay by Nick Hornby from Strayed's bestselling memoir, features picturesque photography, a great soundtrack, and an earnest, though overdone performance from Witherspoon. The film is maimed however both by a cloying performance from Dern and an irritating flashback structure that exists to mask the fact of just how little is going on in this personal drama.
** 1/2 out of ****
