Wendy and Lucy is the story of, respectively, a quasi-homeless woman and her dog. We meet Wendy, played by Michelle Williams, in Oregon, playing in a field with Lucy. They are traveling from Indiana to Alaska, where Wendy is going to work in a cannery. They run into an encampment of other unusually comely young drifters, one of whom pontificates about the advantages of various canning operations to Wendy.

Wendy and Lucy find their way back to the twenty year old car they are calling home. Wendy counts out a not inconsiderable amount of cash, compares it to her notes, and drifts off to sleep. She is woken up in the morning by the security guard of the lot where her car is parked and told to move. Her car won't start, and her odyssey begins.

The guard helps her push the car to the street. She goes to feed the dog. There is not much food for Lucy. So Wendy decides to get more. She goes to the local grocer and, despite having $500 on her person, she decides to shoplift a couple cans of food. She is discovered and taken to jail. She explains that her dog is tied out front, yet surprisingly (and rather unbelievably) neither the grocery store nor the police are interested in making arrangements for Lucy.

Naturally, when Wendy is released from jail five or so hours later, the dog is no longer there. The security guard from the drug store lets her use his phone to make inquiries. After a couple of days and some further travails--she is harassed at one point by a creepy transient played by Bonnie Prince Billy, she finds out that her car is totaled--the pound locates her dog. She goes to see her at the home where she is being fostered, sees that Lucy has a good life and decides to leave her there.

That's the plot and nearly all the action in this movie. Michelle Williams turns in a solid performance as Wendy, though the character remains something of a blank slate. The dog is cute. But the movie is a little unbelievable. I get it that Wendy has her trip budgeted. But the whole thing still seems contrived. She has enough money to buy dog food and to sleep in a hotel room when she gets into a jam rather than sleep uncovered in the woods. Seriously; these are extreme circumstances and it seems like she would spend the money and worry about replacing it later, sell blood plasma or whatever she had to do. And again, the thing with leaving the dog doesn't seem right. It's in no one's interest for the dog to sit there all day or for her to lose the animal. But the film hinges on this event, so I guess it has to happen.

Wendy and Lucy isn't terrible. It's not enough of anything to feel that level of emotion about it. I'm not sure what I was supposed to get out of it. Maybe for Michelle Williams fans.

Recommended:
No

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: None of the Above
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older