Movie Review: August: Osage County

On Monday, I met my oldest friend for coffee.  We randomly decided to go see a movie.  It was difficult trying to choose since I've seen a bunch and think that "Her" looks beyond inane. Liz then mentioned "August: Osage County".  I immediately said yep!

August: Osage County

Movie Poster 1

Movie Poster 2: Much more appropriate

Released: January 10th,2014
Watched: January 13th, 2014
My Rating: 8/10 stars

Starring:
Everyone!! But I'll just list the big names...
Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, Ewan McGregor, Dermot Mulroney, Sam Shepard, Chris Cooper, Margo Martindale, Abigail Breslin, Benedict Cumberbatch and Juliette Lewis

Directed by:
John Wells

This movie was based on a Tony award winning play of the same name written by Traci Letts (of which I have never seen, nor read)

The movie is set in (wait for it....) August in Osage County, Oklahoma.  It's hot, and sticky.

The general synopsis of this movie is Violet (Streep) has mouth cancer and is addicted to pain medication.  Her husband Beverly (Shepard) is a bit of an alcoholic.  Bev goes missing, and their three daughters (Roberts, Lewis, and Julianne Nicholson) show up to the house, and familial drama ensues.

Without ruining key points in the plot that we didn't know beforehand, I'll just say that Liz and I kept being surprised.  I must have hit my head in embarrassment at least ten times.  I'm pretty sure at one point I even yelled "Oh, shit!".  This is one of those movies that should have an "awkward" rating. (you know, the kind of movie that makes you feel awkward for the people in it?)

The issues this family has, even though extremely over the top, are very believable. The acting was superb!  Meryl has three Oscars and 14 other nominations for a reason! Two minutes in I said to Liz, God she's good...

Julia Roberts (whose mouth I'm pretty sure has gotten wider and wider) did a great job balancing her role of daughter, mother and wife, all of which she struggled with.  

Everyone else did a great job.  This was a true character study that kept you guessing as well as kept surprising you at every turn.

I would recommend this to anyone who likes any of these actors, or just movies with great real-life story lines.  You didn't have to suspend your disbelief for anything in this movie.

Have any of you seen it? Do you want to? What do you think? Has anyone seen or read the play?