The only welcome surprise at the Christmas weekend box office came from the better-than-projected performance of "True Grit." The Coen Bros.' faithful, spirited and expansive adaptation of Charles Portis' terrific, deadpan-funny novel took in roughly $26 million for the weekend and about $37 million in the last five days.
It should do even better. Paramount Pictures has reported that 65 percent of the 'True Grit" audience was male; 70 percent of the ticket-buyers were 25 years and older.
Those are dumbfounding statistics for a movie that boasts, in 14-year-old Mattie Ross, a unique, stalwart young heroine -- and showcases, in Hailee Steinfeld, who plays Mattie (right), one of the most surprising, articulate and pleasurably intense girl performances in all of American movies.
"True Grit" deserves a bigger and even broader audience of women and men -- and tweens of both sexes -- not just for Steinfeld's Ross, but for the Coens' crackling use throughout of Portis' dialogue. "True Grit" comes to life because of language that springs rhythmically off the screen and fully experiences the values and experiences of its characters.
Opening on December 22 as a holiday gift for audiences, it didn't win honorable mentions in the movie round-ups that closed earlier, like the survey of all films released in 2010 that appeared in "Entertainment Weekly." But this movie built on verbal dexterity should benefit from overwhelmingly positive word of mouth.
