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August: Osage County
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Product Description
AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY tells the dark, hilarious and deeply touching story of the strong-willed women of the Weston family, whose lives have diverged until a family crisis brings them back to the Midwest house they grew up in, and to the dysfunctional woman who raised them. Lettsa play made its Broadway debut in December 2007 after premiering at Chicago’s legendary Steppenwolf Theatre earlier that year. It continued with a successful international run.
Product details
- Is Discontinued By Manufacturer : No
- MPAA rating : R (Restricted)
- Product Dimensions : 0.7 x 7.5 x 5.4 inches; 2.72 ounces
- Item model number : 92831
- Director : John Wells
- Media Format : Color, Multiple Formats, NTSC, Widescreen
- Run time : 1 hour and 59 minutes
- Release date : April 8, 2014
- Actors : Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, Ewan McGregor, Benedict Cumberbatch
- Subtitles: : English, Spanish
- Producers : George Clooney
- Studio : Lionsgate
- ASIN : B00H7LJ2UO
- Number of discs : 1
- Best Sellers Rank: #50,774 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
- #5,939 in Comedy (Movies & TV)
- #8,518 in Drama DVDs
- Customer Reviews:
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Tracy Letts, writer of the stage show, wrote this film adaptation as well. It appears that he didn't mind cutting the film down considerably for the screen. The film is able to avoid becoming a "greatest hits" version of the play. Yet it can be called an abridged version of the stage show, but that's not quite right either. It's its own animal. It can't help but feel stagy but I certainly don't think that detracts from the experience.
"August: Osage County" tells the story of the Weston family. Three sisters - Barbara (Julia Roberts), Ivy (Julianne Nicholson) and Karen (Juliette Lewis) come back home after their alcoholic, yet soulful and brooding father Beverly (Sam Shepherd) goes missing. Their mother, Violet (Meryl Streep) has basically ruined each one of these girls' lives in one way or another. She has cancer of the mouth, but is constantly smoking like a chimney. Each character has their own story going on. Letts keeps just enough of each character in this condensed adaptation to make it feel like everybody is well-examined and written. I still wish it was the same three and a half hours that the play was, but I understand why that wasn't an option.
When a film contains numerous stellar performances like this, a complaint about the running time hardly means anything. Meryl Streep continues to prove that she can do no wrong. You've never seen her play a character like Violet Weston. She's a serial killer, and words are her bullets. When she goes on "truth-telling" rampages, no one is safe. She gives a performance that might remind you of Elizabeth Taylor's classic turn in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?". A great woman whose moral and mental health is very much in question, who is biting, clever and ruthless. A twenty-minute long dinner table scene (which is one of the play's three acts) is absolutely terrific, because this is where everything begins to disintegrate.
Julia Roberts surprised me as well. She's done a few incredible dramatic performances, but I mainly think of her as a rom-com actress. She has a meaty, complicated role in Barbara Weston, and she nails it. Other standouts include Julianne Nicholson, who I'm shocked isn't a bigger star than she is. Margo Martindale is also fantastic as Aunt Mattie Fay. But the truth is there's not a bad performance to be found in all of "August: Osage County".
One thing you must know before seeing this film is that it's absolutely no comedy. Its trailers depict it as a lighthearted family comedy, and that's not really true at all. It's potent as both a drama and a comedy, however it's not lighthearted in the slightest. These are miserable, miserable people. It's relatable in so many ways, but you can remember, hopefully, that you and your family could be worse.
Tracy Letts clearly loves manic, cynical people. There are so many highs, lows and dramatic confessions here, that you are likely to feel emotionally exhausted when it's over.You'll also be in a considerate state of shock when it's all said and done. I sat in the theater, with a large crowd, who didn't start to tinker out of the theater until the credits were almost over. It gave me the same experience that the stage show did, and I consider that to be a high compliment.
Grade: A
The frequency of its use in the script gives the impression that to be really successful in the film industry, a successful portrayal via base verbal drama is mandatory by using this exaggerated, over-worked verbal format; that a dysfunctional and/or unhealthy family unit simply MUST be portrayed as using rough and heavily repeated f-bomb language — this limited thinking, limited vision in writing, yields limited, mediocre art.
Likewise, it begins to give the impression the writer believes the story will not stick in our minds, or that the audience will not 'stick it out' in viewing, if the writer doesn't, essentially, rely on this extensive language 'drama'...to keep us watching? NOT.
Some of the shrewdest, most manipulative, intellectually cunning, flat-out dysfunctional family members, co-workers, neighbors, etc., we all encounter in real life, whether or not under the influence of any one or number of substances, can and often do inflict their pain and chaos without one drop of foul language; i.e., you don't realize you've been intellectually and emotionally 'hit' until their smooth-talking words are out, until a slick deed is done.
Via stage or screen, this level of 'dysfunctional sophistication' requires and, in fact, deserves the use of a far greater, more refined work in portrayal of personalities, motive, of what is happening in the heads of the characters being portrayed. These actors are phenomenal, as they perform here before the more restrictive confines of the camera lens (versus the difference in stage); yet the actors could and should have been far better tapped to better utilize their already proved, captivating talents and acting capabilities.
In contrast, it would be refreshing to see this same level of 'intellectual, emotional, and social dysfunction' portrayed in this same family without the constant eye-rolling-drama CRUTCH of 'cheap-shock' language usage every other sentence. It's no secret it takes real talent and professional experience to both write and perform, to portray family constellations, relationships, and complex human interaction. Most of us have observed, heard, or perhaps been a part of such family scenes, yet this continual base language is an exaggeration, when used by all or key roles with every breath -- the viewing public knows this.
Much of the movie did accomplish the greater reliance on just good acting via the great talents of a fantastic cast; however, the acting talent is better portrayed and appreciated among the supporting cast, in the secondary family member roles, where 'cheap-shock' f-bomb usage and language seemed much less. The main actors were, as always, tops in their usual work. But, sadly, their professional abilities become quickly OVERSHADOWED with the writing crutch of constant 'cheap-shock' language overuse.
This is easily a five star production. Yet, for what seems to be lazy 'word-work' by the play write in his original stage play (a well-known, authentic, phenomenal hit), and in his transferring it here to a movie script, it is necessarily reduced to a four-star rating.
Some language is fine, realistic, expected, but this much is a disappointing, elementary reliance on unrealistic, shallow drama. If you find that a writer persists in 'painting the walls with it', it then diminishes the fine acting skills of top professional performers, instead of further magnifying and challenging the actors' fine-tuned skills, which we've come to crave and appreciate. When a writer needs to add coat after coat of the crap, it is an insult to you, the viewer, which suggests you can't think for yourself and not lose interest in his work without painting his script with layers of tiresome, empty language drama.
The best writing will challenge the best actors to develop in their work, to stretch, to effectually reveal their character in a challenging new role. Perhaps some contemporary viewers are content to pay good money to passively watch their personal life experience acted out on stage/screen; or perhaps the curious and naive are content to come away thinking, in error, that this is how it is, this is how it's 'done'. And, perhaps this is a reflection of what seems a growing inability, or disinterest, in a higher level of 'audience thought participation', a dumbing-down of sorts; a possible reflection of a growing inability or disinterest in a higher level of entertainment skills; skills that would provide performance at a level of sophistication that could more effectually portray the realistic, even dangerous levels that authentic dysfunction can take on.
Bottom line, despite great acting, great set, all the top work that went into production, plus a bit of comedic work subtly woven through various scenes, the film doesn't respect the audience OR the actors at a higher, more sophisticated level above this film's base writing — this production, utilizing top talent, simply reduces, rather than amplifies, both the viable story and the actors’ portrayal of their characters. What a shame to see these great, talented actors reduced to mere verbal drama, flooded with lower-level script language, so beneath their capabilities; in contrast to allowing them to brilliantly act out their characters' colorful, spicy, crazy personalities, foibles, denials, and life-failings — take away the language and you are forced, like a gifted mime, to stretch, to produce quality —quality ART!
Would love to see other insightful, life-experienced, creative writers rework this story/theme for a deeper, richer, more powerful viewer experience, well beyond the shallows of 'cheap-shock' writing -- both audience and cast deserve better.
Top reviews from other countries
It is a great film,touchning raw with brave perforomances.
Féroce et jubilatoire tableau de famille sur lequel Meryl Streep règne en maître. Dysfonctionnelle, hystérique, rongée par des secrets dévastateurs cette galerie de personnage appuie là où ça fait mal. On ne choisit pas sa famille et les liens qui s'y tissent peuvent aussi bien aider à grandir qu'à dégringoler. Le personnage "ogre" de la mère ne laisse aucun échappatoir. Ses refléxions sont d'autant plus cruelles qu'elles énoncent la vérité brute.
Les répliques savoureuses sont légion et le casting déborde de talent. A la fois grotesque et magnifique, Meryl Streep enflamme la pellicule. Julia Roberts et Margo Martindale (The Millers) révèlent toute l'étendue de leur talent. Scott Cooper apporte un peu d'oxygène et d'humanité dans cet enfer intîme. Les autres rôles n'ont plus qu'à se hisser au niveau de ces stradivarius de l'interprétation.
Il y a quatre ans, le réalisateur John Wells signait le très beau Company Men et révélait déja une direction d'acteur impériale.
Avec Osage County il vient clairement de passer à la vitesse supérieure.
Grand film.
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