Alva Review-Courier -

Early on in "Stillwater," a gruff oil rig worker from Oklahoma is asked what he's doing in the French port city of Marseille. "Visiting my daughter," he replies.

That's only sort of right, it turns out. He left some stuff out. But truth itself gets more than a little smeared in this fascinating film that's really a character study pretending to be a thriller.

Matt Damon stars as the Oklahoman, a goateed, denim-wearing roughneck named Bill with a sad past. He's visiting his daughter (Abigail Breslin) in France — that part is true. But it's not like she's studying abroad — she's in prison for an...