I want no part of living in Osage County, Oklahoma. August: Osage County is Tracy Letts’s adaptation of her own play. Though highly vicious to the point that the story can be unbelievable and at times unwatchable, August: Osage County earns enough points through its actors that it is consistently compelling. It also makes anyone else’s tense family dinners pale in comparison to this film’s.
Weston family patriarch Bev (Sam Shepard) has gone missing. As a result, cancer-ridden Violet (Meryl Streep) has no idea what to do so she calls in the family to help her cope. The family is not without its own issues, however. Violet’s sister Mattie (Margo Martindale) and brother-in-law Charlie (Chris Cooper) show up for the funeral, but their son Charles (Benedict Cumberbatch) is late, causing Mattie to be cold to him. Violet’s oldest daughter Barbara (Julia Roberts) is going through a separation with her husband Bill (Ewan McGregor). The youngest Ivy (Julianne Nicholson) harbors a crush on her cousin, and middle child Karen (Juliette Lewis) is dating a womanizer (Dermot Mulroney) who sets his sights on Barbara’s daughter Jean (Abigail Breslin). All these issues come to a head as the family copes with their personal issues and losses simultaneously.
This might be one of the meanest families to ever hit the screen. Tracy Letts’s play benefitted from the small-scale here; the claustrophobia of the house and heat of summer crafted these violent eruptions of honesty. The movie chooses to show more of the town, to the story’s detriment. The heat is brought up at the beginning of the movie, and never really mentioned again. The claustrophobia is nonexistent due to the changes in setting. These subtle changes undercut the catharsis of the revelations that come out in the story. In addition, the brutal honesty borders on reality television levels of viciousness which lessens the impact of the fight. What reason is there for the audience to care about a jerk insulting an equally offensive jerk? August: Osage County has one of the bigger dichotomies when it comes to screen vs. play adaptation and execution in favor of the play.
The actors do the best job elevating the screenplay. When focused on the similarities between Julia Roberts’s Barbara and Meryl Streep’s Violet, August: Osage County carries very strong themes of the passage of personality from parent to child. Director Bob Wells knows this and lets Streep and Roberts let loose. Though bordering on overacting, both women are very convincing and talented enough to make the audience care, despite how uncaring they come off. Chris Cooper is the most relatable character here, saddened by the loss of his brother and the meanness of his assumed family. Margo Martindale, Sam Shepard, and Misty Upham get the best character beats outside of the main three (though Roberts easily gets the best line involving fish). Unfortunately, due to time, the characters of Benedict Cumberbatch, Dermot Mulroney, Abigail Breslin, Ewan McGregor, and Juliette Lewis serve more as plot devices than real people. Every thespian here gives it their all, but time constraints limit the actors chances to connect to the audience.
The Weinstein Company is using August: Osage County as one of its big pieces of Oscar bait. Though not awful, the movie drifts too close to campiness and irrationality to be taken as seriously as it desperately wants to be taken. Not helping the movies chances are using British actors (McGregor and Cumberbatch) to play heartland Americans, although it doesn’t hurt adding their natural gravitas to the Weston family.