August: Osage County
Upon the death of the family patriarch, Beverly Weston (Sam Shepard), daughters Barbra (Julia Roberts), Ivy (Julianne Nicholson), and Karen (Juliette Lewis) rally to help their mother, Violet (Meryl Streep), who’s slowly dying of cancer and addicted to pain meds. Sounds like a loving gesture on the surface; but, you’d be hard pressed to find a more dysfunctional family in all of Osage County. Meanwhile, the male partners (Ewan McGregor, Chris Cooper, Benedict Cumberbatch, and Dermot Mulroney) associated with each of the Weston women are just as troubled. Dissecting family politics one elephant at a time, who will be left standing?
A veritable acting tour de force; there isn’t a bad apple in the bunch, and, based on the theatrical piece with a quality screenplay and fully dimensional characters Director John Wells has created a drama that will creep under your skin, linger, fester, and make you gasp for air in the claustrophobic confines of Osage County. The only question that remains, and yes it’s trivial, why so many flannel shirts in August and why no beads of sweat? Still, this is a heavy weight and worthy of consideration, no doubt August: Osage County rhymes with award nominations, no it doesn’t but yes it does, you get the idea. August: Osage County is rated R.