January 18, 2014
 
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. I really like realistic movies. The ones where you just catch a glimpse of the characters lives for a day or two and get to know who they are. There’s not necessarily a happy ending (or a bad ending). It just ends and often leaves you wondering what will happen in the future of the characters. But that’s OK, as that’s how we often lead our lives. August: Osage County is just that type of film. It’s a dark comedy-drama based on the play by the same name. It has an all-star cast, which didn’t hurt but wasn’t necessary. Though Meryl Streep shines, as usual, as the toxic Violet Weston, who deals not only with her impending death due to cancer and an addiction to pills, but also the suicide of her husband and her children’s abandonment. She deserves whatever awards she’s up for this award season.
 
August begins with Beverly Weston (Sam Shepard), Violet’s husband, hiring a young native American Johnna (Misty Upham) to take care of the chores and cooking around the house, now that Violet has mouth cancer. Violet comes swooping in like a tornado, insulting not only Johnna, but also Beverly. Soon, she’s calling in reinforcements in the form of her three daughters and her sister when Beverly leaves and doesn’t come back for days. Her sister Mattie Fae (Margo Martindale) arrives first with her husband Charles (Chris Cooper). Next her youngest child Ivy (Julianne Nicholson) shows up, but it’s clear that all Violet does is insult and belittle Ivy. Though she’s delighted when Barbara (Julia Roberts) arrives with her estranged husband Bill (Ewan McGregor) and their 14-year-old daughter Jean (Abigail Breslin). The pair try to form a united front to be there for Violet, but each day and insult Violet tosses out makes that harder for them.
 
Not only there for one night Barbara is awakened by the police knocking on the door in the middle of the night. Beverly’s body was found in a nearby lake near his body. It’s clear he’s committed suicide. As they arrive the church for the funeral, the middle daughter Karen (Juliette Lewis) shows up with the latest in a string of boyfriends, Steve (Dermot Mulroney).
 
After the funeral, the girls’ cousin Little Charles (Benedict Cumberbatch), Mattie Fae’s son, arrives late, saying he overslept. He’s a very shy man, who Mattie Fae finds is a disappointment to the family, while Charles has a soft spot for him. The entire group gathers for a funeral dinner, at which everything comes to a head as Violet, hopped up on pills, goes on a tirade belittling everyone and launching a ‘truth telling’ speech. This little escape causes Barbara to attack Violet, verbally and physically. She then does a ‘drug raid’ and tosses them all in the toilet.
 
The girls try to find help for Violet, but it’s clear she doesn’t want it, as just when they get close enough to her, she turns on them, tossing out insult upon insult. Over wine one night, Ivy confesses to being in love with Little Charles and that she had a hysterectomy a year earlier due to ovarian cancer. It becomes clear, that these three sisters are no longer the close-knit girls they were growing up. Ivy then announces that she’s moving to New York with Little Charles, so she will no longer be responsible for taking care of their mother.
 
But the crux of the story comes with Barbara realizes she’s just like her mother. As we all sort of realize this at some point in our lives. It comes when Mattie Fae reveals that Little Charles is actually their brother when she had an affair with Beverly. She asks Barbara to tell Ivy because they can’t see each other anymore. Barbara chickens out and it’s Violet who reveals this knowledge to Ivy, even though no one knew that she knew. Ivy storms off without another word, while Barbara sticks around long enough to hear that her father left a suicide note and Violet could have actually stopped him from killing himself, but didn’t. Then she’s out the door, leaving Violet alone with just Johnna.
 
It’s amazing the emotions that one family can go through in just a few days. All the revelations, betrayals and insults were shocking, yet realistic. Violet is the type of character that you want to believe is a good person deep down, but she’s just not. All of her insecurities come across as meanness. Her fear of being alone turns out to be just what she gets when she pushes everyone away. Streep and Roberts are just fantastic as they portray the toxic relationship between mother and daughter.  The one thing I did actually admire about Violet was her strength and how she did really know all. Women like that amaze me with what they go through and put up with. She knew her husband was having an affair with her sister. They had a child together. But she stayed with him, never once mentioning that she knew, even though she knew that he knew that she knew (Friends reference!).
 
Nicholson and Lewis also did well as completely opposite sisters. They actually both played characters they stereotypically portray, which worked to their advantage in this film. Mulroney, McGregor and Breslin’s acting skills were downplayed, which was a shame. But I think the stand out actor, besides Streep and Roberts, was Cooper as the really only sane Charles. When Mattie Fae reveals her affair with her brother-in-law, you have to wonder if Charles actually knew and Cooper’s acting skills sort of imply that.
 
All in all, a great film, even it’s just to show you that your family isn’t the only crazy family out there.