August: Osage County
The Westons, a dysfunctional Oklahoma family, come together to rally around the clan's dying matriarch in an ensemble lead by Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts. Based on the Pulitzer and Tony Award-winning black comedy play by Tracy Letts (Killer Joe).
When Violet (Streep) becomes terminally ill, her husband hires a caregiver and then goes AWOL. The estranged Weston clan congregate at the family homestead to give support, and inevitably rattle the skeletons in the closet. Violet and Barbara (Roberts) are at constant odds, while the rest of the family slowly spirals out of control in the background. The high-class cast also includes Ewan McGregor, Benedict Cumberbatch, Juliette Lewis, Julianne Nicholson, Dermot Mulroney, Abigail Breslin and Chris Cooper.
- Director:
- John Wells ('The Company Men', TV's 'Shameless' & 'The West Wing')
- Writer:
- Tracy Letts
- Cast:
- Meryl StreepJulia RobertsEwan McGregorBenedict CumberbatchDermot MulroneyJuliette LewisChris CooperAbigail BreslinMargo MartindaleMisty UphamSam ShepardJulianne Nicholson
Reviews & comments
Variety
pressThis two-ton prestige pic won't win the hearts of highbrow critics or those averse to door-slamming, plate-smashing, top-of-the-lungs histrionics, but as a faithful filmed record of Letts' play, one could have scarcely hoped for better.
Time Out
pressThe movie may be all ephemerally simple pleasures when compared to the play's durable grand statements-but they're pleasures nonetheless.
The New York Times
pressIt is possible that Mr. Wells has simply mishandled the material, riding roughshod over subtleties and muffling bravura moments.
The Guardian
press[Writer] Letts is one of the most formidable talents around today, but in handling his screenplay with such kid gloves, Wells puts a passenger in the driver's seat.
The Dissolve
pressRoberts is startlingly effective in her grim, hard-driving role... At its best, the story does subtly communicate the sensation that all these characters are the stars of their own bigger worlds. But it’s all more grotesque than immersive.
Hollywood Reporter
pressAn entertaining adaptation, delivering flavorful rewards in some sharp supporting turns that flank the central mother-daughter adversaries.
Great strong lead performances from Streep and Roberts. I was expecting more from McGreggor in the movie as a whole. All up the film leaves you feeling like you have lived through all the drama with them! Plenty of humour but more arguments than anything else, you will appreciate your own family after viewing this. Not my typical movie but went along due to...
It's not easy to watch a family implode but August: Osage County through the brilliant performance from Streep and Roberts (and the whole team really) makes it possible. Includes the finest dinner battles ever seen on screen.
Turning a play into a screenplay works well in this one. Family drama is stuff well contracted on here. It can be funny but ugly to. We'd be nowhere without human relationships to plough our way through. I'd see it again.
Variety
pressThis two-ton prestige pic won't win the hearts of highbrow critics or those averse to door-slamming, plate-smashing, top-of-the-lungs histrionics, but as a faithful filmed record of Letts' play, one could have scarcely hoped for better.
Time Out
pressThe movie may be all ephemerally simple pleasures when compared to the play's durable grand statements-but they're pleasures nonetheless.
The New York Times
pressIt is possible that Mr. Wells has simply mishandled the material, riding roughshod over subtleties and muffling bravura moments.
The Guardian
press[Writer] Letts is one of the most formidable talents around today, but in handling his screenplay with such kid gloves, Wells puts a passenger in the driver's seat.
The Dissolve
pressRoberts is startlingly effective in her grim, hard-driving role... At its best, the story does subtly communicate the sensation that all these characters are the stars of their own bigger worlds. But it’s all more grotesque than immersive.
Hollywood Reporter
pressAn entertaining adaptation, delivering flavorful rewards in some sharp supporting turns that flank the central mother-daughter adversaries.
Great strong lead performances from Streep and Roberts. I was expecting more from McGreggor in the movie as a whole. All up the film leaves you feeling like you have lived through all the drama with them! Plenty of humour but more arguments than anything else, you will appreciate your own family after viewing this. Not my typical movie but went along due...
It's not easy to watch a family implode but August: Osage County through the brilliant performance from Streep and Roberts (and the whole team really) makes it possible. Includes the finest dinner battles ever seen on screen.
Turning a play into a screenplay works well in this one. Family drama is stuff well contracted on here. It can be funny but ugly to. We'd be nowhere without human relationships to plough our way through. I'd see it again.
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