Alexander Payne had a string of films I really enjoyed: Citizen Ruth, Election, About Schmidt, and Sideways. But his last two pictures have failed because he’s put far too much confidence in screenplays full of people you can’t root for. Not saying that every film needs a gooey center, but we should at least be able to sympathize with the bastards on screen. Have fun trying to do that in Nebraska, which trudges along with its sourpuss protagonist through nameless caricatures of the heartland. 2013 appears to be the year of “what’s the point?”