August:
Osage County
In the movie’s opening scene, Meryl Streep walks onto the screen
and she might as well be wearing a sign that says, “I am trying
to win an OSCAR, DAMMIT!!!!” I have to admit, it is one of the
best opening scenes for any character in many years as we watch Streep
walking a very fine line between big time acting or chewing up the
scenery like Homer Simpson locked in a doughnut shop overnight.
In August: Osage County, Julia Roberts stars as Barbara Weston
– a woman from a very complicated family in Oklahoma
(aren’t all families complicated?). A tragedy has brought her and
her sisters back home, which means they have to face their monstrous,
overbearing mother, Violet (Meryl Streep).
Of course, everyone has a secret to hide, and all of those secrets will
be revealed in the most stunning and soap opera-like fashion. Sparks
will fly!
Adapted from the Broadway play by Tracy Letts (who wrote the
screenplay), August: Osage County plays more like the worst
ever episode of General Hospital than an Oscar winning movie.
If feels more like a parody.
The complications and conflicts start off as a banal series of secrets
like who is getting divorced and why, who is getting married, and who
is having a new love affair, but Letts and director John Wells soon
find themselves upping the ante to melodramatic heights. This escalates
to levels unseen since the worst twists of Dallas or Dynasty
and drove me to give up emotionally and intellectually on the film.
Then, the audience is treated to crazy, over-the-top showdowns,
including the most uncomfortable and combustible dinner in the history
of movies. This puts those Sunday night dinners at the Sopranos to
shame as the audience wallows in hurt feelings, and ancient history.
Yet, it is enjoyable to watch the cast in action. It’s an
actors’ movie, especially Streep in the kind of bombastic
performance that has you laughing in appreciation, and maybe a little
bit of mockery. Her character is the rabble-rouser. No matter how mean
and vile it might be, Streep is the one you can’t stop watching,
but Roberts goes toe to toe with the legend, AND SURVIVES!
August: Osage County is a bit too wrapped up
in the overplayed idea that families are horrible and dysfunctional,
which drives the material to the absurd.
August: Osage County is rated R for language
including sexual references, and for drug material.
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