 |
| Julia Roberts and Meryl Streep |
Dark, funny "August: Osage County" brilliantly mines family dysfunction
The superbly acted, poignant dark dramedy "August: Osage County" is filled with many hilarious yet disturbing moments of family dysfunction. Those moments may make you cringe but you'll never look away in the talky but rarely dull movie based on Tracy Letts' Pulitzer Prize-winning 2007 stage play of the same name. Barbara (Julia Roberts), Ivey (Julianne Nicholson) and Karen (Juliette Lewis) are all brought home to Osage County, Oklahoma when their father Beverly, an award-winning poet (Sam Shepard) mysteriously dies, leaving them to pick up the pieces with their unstable, drug-addicted mother Violet (Meryl Streep) and her loud-mouth sister Mattie Fay (Margo Martindale). The funny, entertaining but downbeat "August: Osage County" is memorably brought to life by director John Wells ("The West Wing") and Letts, who also pens the screenplay and a large, stellar A-list cast. The winning performances from all involved, particularly Roberts and Streep, who go at it full force and will likely be (once again) nominated for their powerful performances. Streep is most sublime here as the addicted woman who is a terrible mother yet loves her children through the extensive amount of cruelty and meanness she shows; Roberts, as the strongest older daughter Barbara, is essentially playing a younger version of Violet trying to forge a different path from her mother's, also gives one of her best performances to date. Watch for Dermot Mulroney, Ewan McGregor, Abigail Breslin, Benedict Cumberbatch, Chris Cooper and Misty Upham who round out the talented cast and all of whom get in a good scene or two. Problematic is that none of the characters are exactly redeemable, except for Cooper's, and some of the bickering goes on too long, though it's admittedly fun to watch (particularly the scene in which Roberts literally tackles Streep to the floor fighting for pills). "August: Osage County" is memorable for the superb performances and yes it's definitely recommended, but it's certainly not a feel-good movie.
Wes's Grade: B+
No comments:
Post a Comment