If 'The Homesman' proves anything, it's that there's no movie that can't get a shot in the arm from a couple scenes of Tommy Lee Jones hollerin' and dancin'.

If only things had started out on more solid ground and headed toward some sort of resolution. If only.

Swank, an Oscar winner for "Boys Don't Cry" and "Million Dollar Baby," is outstanding, getting to the essence of Mary Bee's pride and pain. And in the showier role, Jones impressively peels away layers of rambunctiousness to reveal George's humanity.

Without becoming a version of John Wayne and Katharine Hepburn from “Rooster Cogburn” as a blustering and bickering mismatched pair, both Jones and Swank stay true to the hardscrabble roots needed for this story