I liked the setting and some of the story, but I had a few serious beefs with this:

i) The main characters were so unsympathetic. Woody was an alcoholic, debt riddled philanderer who didn't care about his kids and it wasnt sufficiently established that his war experiences shaped his personality. Bad things can happen to bad people. His son David is largely gutless and the mother was a horror. I couldn't really care for the fate of any of them! This doesn't normally matter but the film clearly was trying to make us sympathise for these unpleasant/hapless individuals as it was at the core of the finale.

ii) Why shoot a film with scenic vistas in black and white? Sometimes I accept that this can serve a purpose, but not here.

iii) The ending. What a saccharine and unrealistic effort. How it should have ended is Woody losing control of the truck (possibly through illness) and wiping out one of the locals accidentally. Or with Woody dying on the drive home. Or with Woody leaving the truck and walking back to Lincoln again in a confused state.

I really enjoyed Sideways but I think overall it seems Payne just isn't for me (this was significantly better than The Descendants in my book)

6/10