Primarily known for his work as executive director of some of the best television shows of the last 20 years (ER, The West Wing, Third Watch, Southland), John Wells is a newcomer in directing a feature film. Before August: Osage County, he has just one movie credit to his name (2010’s slightly disappointing The Company Men…a movie whose trailer made it seem like it was going to be a contender for movie of the year). But when it comes to assembling casts, I’m not sure a director can do any better. For his first film, he reeled in Ben Affleck, Chris Cooper, Kevin Costner, Tommy Lee Jones, Mario Bello, Rosemarie DeWitt, and Craig T. Nelson. Not bad. But even the cast of The Company Men has nothing on August: Osage County. For this effort, with apologies to American Hustle, Wells has assembled the best cast ensemble you will see in all of 2013. American Hustle got five of the best actors and actresses on the planet, but August: Osage County got eight or nine great ones.
Based on the play of the same name written by Tracy Letts, August: Osage County follows the Weston family for the period of a few days, as they gather together in a small town of Oklahoma following the death of father Beverly (Sam Shepard – The Right Stuff, Black Hawk Down). The family matriarch Violet (Meryl Streep – Doubt, The Iron Lady) is a bitter older adult dying of mouth cancer. She takes pills to get through the day. You name the drug, and she probably takes it. The movie begins with Beverly explaining his wife’s situation to Johnna (Misty Upham), the help he has recently hired to help care for Violet. This is where we meet Violet for the first time, and we can see her anger and cruelty for the very first time. We know very early in this movie that this will be an uncomfortable ride. The rest of Violet’s family consists of her sister and best friend Mattie Fae, the fantastic Margo Martindale (who has been doing movies forever but has received most of her acclaim from her work on television – season 2 of Justified and season 1 of The Americans) who is nothing short of awesome in the scenes she shares with powerhouses Streep and husband Charles (Chris Cooper – Adaptation, Breach). Like Violet, Mattie Fae says what she feels when she feels like saying it, but her words, for the most part, are much more lighthearted than her sister’s, even when she is busting on Charles.
Then there are Violet’s three children. Her favorite is her eldest, Barbara (Julia Roberts – Erin Brokovich, Pretty Woman), because she seems to have done the most with her life (she is the only one of the three to give Violet a grandchild). She also is the child who stands up to Violet when the others are too scared. Ivy (Julianne Nicholson – television’s Law and Order: Criminal Intent, television’s Masters of Sex) is the only of the three daughters who live in the area. She is a timid woman, obviously beaten down by Violet’s criticisms over the years. Karen (Juliette Lewis – Natural Born Killers, Cape Fear) is Violet’s youngest daughter. She lives in Miami. She is the most alive of the Weston daughters but perhaps out of touch with reality. She’s not always in the right mindset. For one, she arrives at the funeral in a sports car driven by her new fiance Steve (Dermot Mulroney – My Best Friend’s Wedding, Young Guns). She seems more interested in flashing the new engagement ring than her mourning her father’s death. She’s probably 40 but acts like she’s 20 and seems to have difficulty separating reality from fantasy. Rounding out the fabulous cast are Barbara’s husband (Ewan McGregor – The Impossible, Incendiary), Barbara’s daughter (Abigail Breslin – Little Miss Sunshine, Ender’s Game), and Mattie Fae and Charles’s son (Benedict Cumberbatch – the man who seems to everywhere these days, including 12 Years A Slave). Each has their issues, and these issues add another layer to heavy family drama.
August: Osage County is classified as a drama and a comedy, and while it has quite a few humorous conversations and, more specifically, one-liners to help break up the tension that is always at the forefront of everything, I cannot, without a good conscience, list this as a comedy at all. While I endorse the movie, it is, quite possibly, the dreariest thing you will see all year. But if you want to see the best acting of 2013, this might be the movie for you.
Plot 8/10
Character Development 8/10 (not much advancement of the characters, really, but they all do seem to be worse off at the end of the movie than they do at the start)
Character Chemistry 9.5/10
Acting 10/10 (some of the finest acting you’ll see all year)
Screenplay 8/10
Directing 7/10
Cinematography 8/10
Sound 8/10 (Lay Down Sally)
Hook and Reel 9/10 (in a dialog-driven story, it never felt slow to me)
Universal Relevance 10/10 (the dynamics of a family is universal)
85.5%
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