August: Osage County

Let's be honest: we all know the reason I wanted to see August: Osage County is that Benedict Cumberbatch is in it, being completely adorable, playing piano, and singing. There's more to it than that, but it isn't very pleasant, so who cares?

(If you do, keep reading.)

Patriarch Beverly Weston (Sam Shepard) disappears from his home in rural Oklahoma, instigating a weekend of closeness, distance, conflict, discovery, self-discovery, and as Violet Weston (Meryl Streep) puts it, "truth-tellin'." Violet and Beverly have had three girls, Barbara (Julia Roberts), Ivy (Julianne Nicholson), and Karen (Juliette Lewis), the three of whom couldn't be more different. The girls do the best they can, as women, in their lives, to come out from the shadow cast by overbearing, overwhelming Violet. Vi, having been treated for cancer of the mouth, has become addicted to her pain pills, and adopted her husband's hobby of alcoholism. When the mood of anxious waiting transitions into one of mourning, the tension only escalates, the melodrama unfolding in waves.

The stage version of August: Osage County won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2008. Tracy Letts adapted his own play for the screen, landed a constellation of stars for the cast; he should be very pleased with the result.

Having not seen any of the stage productions, I can only share my feelings for the film, which can be summed up in this thought: August: Osage County is an exercise in pity. The only thing that saves these characters from complete and total disdain is the fact that they're in a lovely midwestern home, college-educated, and quoting poetry - otherwise, it's like an over-long episode of Maury. Yes, Streep is very good. It's barely even interesting, because we all know she's going to be excellent. I'm not a fan of Julia Roberts, so I enjoyed my colleague's response, dripping with sarcasm: "A Julia Roberts movie is overrated? Noooo..." Though in fairness, the film does not belong to Roberts. I did like Chris Cooper, very much, and it reminded me of back when I was obsessed with October Sky, in which he also played the father of my crush - at the time, Jake Gyllenhaal (who looked like a boy at my school). Also wonderful, and underrated, is Margo Martindale as Violet's sister Mattie Fae.

Or perhaps I'm just biased toward Benedict's on-screen parents.

Anyway, it might be worth a viewing, but once you've seen it, I doubt you'll want to watch it again. I'd wait to check out once it gets to Redbox.


Notes
- Oscar nominated for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role (Meryl Streep), and Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role (Julia Roberts).
- Barbara Weston's daughter Jean is played by Abigail Breslin. I knew I recognized her!
- The title of the film comes from a poem by Oklahoma native Howard Starks.
- Cumberbatch fans may opt to skip the film altogether and simply listen to his playing and singing on the soundtrack. Link to fansite/blog, if interested.
- Forgot to mention: the film/story felt heavily influenced by Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Must have been all the booze.