August: Osage County

The tag line for this movie is Misery Loves Family and it is very appropriate.

This movie, based on the Tony award winning play of the same name, were both written by the amazing Tracy Letts.  Trivia: he is the son of another amazing writer, Billie Letts of Where The Heart Is fame.

There are so many stars in this movie adaptation, Benedict Cumberbatch (who eerily looks like a young Dennis Quaid), Abigail Breslin, Juliette Lewis, Dermot Mulroney, Sam Shepard, Ewan Mcgregor, Chris Cooper, Oscar-nominee Julia Roberts and perennially nominated Oscar winner, Meryl Streep.  Unlike Django Unchained and Lee Daniels, The Butler, these stars do not get in the way of the story.  The story is strong, funny, heart-wrenching and thought-provoking all at the same time.  You could call it depressing but that would be over-simplifying the impact of the movie.  This is the type of movie that resonates with the viewer long after you walk out of the 121 minute movie.

Meryl Streep is her usual phenomenal self as Violet Weston, the matriarch of a family of three women (Julia, Julianne Nicholson and Juliette) coming back together after a family crisis.  Every member of the cast has their own faults just like us all.  I originally though Chris Cooper was the only redeeming character until after some percolating in my mind, realized that even he is flawed--making fun of Abigail Breslin's character's vegetarianism.  Tracy Letts adds a Native American role solely as a caretaker for Violet as stability and also to show the love of Violet's husband, Beverly Weston (Sam Shepard).  Tracy also puts in some plot twists to keep ratcheting up the conflict for more dramatic effect.

I give this two thumbs up in appreciation for the writing of Tracy Letts, the acting of Meryl Streep who at 64 1/2 years young still succeeds in every role (hence the 18th Oscar nomination) and the rest of the cast and crew of this movie.  This is a snub of the 2014 Oscars, as it deserved a Best Picture nomination.