A great, experienced filmmaker can elevate even the most pedestrian material into something special. However, Where the Crawdads Sing is nothing special. Imagine the most vanilla made-for-TV heterosexual romance and multiply it by ten. This is what you get.

I can't help but compare it to Clint Eastwood's great film Bridges of Madison County, which is the polar opposite of this film in many ways. That film is executed beautifully. Where the Crawdads Sing, on the other hand, feels like it was made by a filmmaker that lacks confidence, relying on trite cliches and tropes, moving at a ridiculously fast pace so the audience isn't bored at the expense of atmosphere and personality, and also spelling everything out for the audience so there's little to no subtext. It's a shame, really.

Whatever, at least my mum liked it, and she's the target audience.