Friday, January 3, 2014

Film Review - August: Osage County (2014)

Based off of the stage play of the same name, August: Osage County stars Meryl Streep as the matriarch of a family of daughters whose husband commits suicide and whose daughters have moved away as well as she herself suffering mouth cancer, Julia Roberts plays one of her daughters who has family problems.

I was very mixed going into this film, on the one hand the preview for it was okay but didn't do a great deal for me but it had a good cast in Streep, Roberts, Ewan McGregor, Benedict Cumberbatch and Chris Cooper among others, did the film deliver or simply confirm my mixed feelings.

Well, it actually gave me pretty much what I expected of it which was that the film was okay but nothing special, the cast members mentioned above are committed to their roles and in the case of Roberts, Cumberbatch and Cooper stand out a little bit and try to do something with the familiar roles they have on the page though I wish Cumberbatch had a bit more to do in the film as I found myself identifying more with his character than the others.

As for Streep well she does well but at times goes a little too OTT in terms of her performance, there was a time when she was hailed as the greatest actress of her generation but now she seems to border on being cartoonish in some of her roles, The Devil Wears Prada being one example of that, I also found myself squirming a little bit during some of the family argument scenes and those that have been to awkward family gatherings will understand why when they see it in this movie.

And so to wrap it all up, August: Osage County is a fine if forgettable way to kick off 2014 at the movies for me but all it's done is make me more excited for the upcoming "Jack Ryan" movie, I would've waited an eternity for that and now that time is inching oh so close, 2 out of 5.

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