August: Osage County (FILM REVIEW)
August: Osage
County
Film Review
by Kam Williams
Streep Heads Stellar Cast in Melodramatic Adaptation of
Pulitzer Prize-Winning Play
In 2008, August:
Osage County not only won a Pulitzer Prize, but
it also took home a quintet of Tony Awards, including Best Play. However, the
screen version of Tracy Letts’ haunting tale about a dysfunctional Oklahoma family is
unlikely to be as well-received, given the tawdry tale’s relentlessly-morose plot.
Who goes to the movies to get depressed?
That being
said, the picture nevertheless does boast a very impressive, stellar cast
headed by Meryl Streep, even if in service of a kitchen sink soap opera. She
turns in another Oscar-quality performance as Violet, the substance-abusing,
cancer-stricken matriarch of the Weston clan.
The film revolves
around the return home of that downer of a character’s three daughters in the
wake their suicidal father’s (Sam Shepard) sudden disappearance. As the action
unfolds, we find each of her offspring involved in a relationship more bizarre
than the next.
Eldest Barbara
(Julia Roberts) arrives from Colorado
escorted by her estranged husband, Bill (Ewan McGregor), even though the philandering
college professor is dating one of his students. Along for the ride is their 14
year-old daughter, Jean (Abigail Breslin), a sullen stoner ostensibly upset
about the state of her parents’ disintegrating marriage.
Youngest
sister Karen (Juliette Lewis) shows up with her creepy fiancé, Steve (Dermot
Mulroney), a successful businessman whose money has her deep in denial (until he
hits on her niece) about his being a pedophile. Meanwhile, middle child Ivy’s (Julianne
Nicholson) issue is the incestuous affair she’s carrying on with her first
cousin, Charlie, Jr. (Benedict Cumberbatch).
Then
there’s Violet’s sister/Charlie’s mom, Mattie Fae (Margo Martindale), a shrew who
openly abuses both her son and hubby, Charlie, Sr. (Chris Cooper). She’s has a
humdinger of a skeleton hidden in her closet just waiting to trump everybody
else’s shocking developments.
A movie
featuring so many sensational storylines certainly lends itself to melodrama,
which is what August: Osage
County proceeds to serve
up in spades. Thus, the film frequently feels more like an adaptation of a dime-store
romance novel than of an award-winning Broadway production.
An
overplotted, feel-bad flick saved by a host of compelling performances, most
notably those of Meryl Streep and Margo Martindale.
Very Good
(3 stars)
Rated R
for profanity, sexual references and drug use
Running time: 121 minutes
Distributor: The
Weinstein Company
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