A look at the lives of the strong-willed women of the Weston family, whose paths have diverged until a family crisis brings them back to the Oklahoma house they grew up in, and to the dysfunctional woman who raised them.
Violet Weston (Meryl Streep) has cancer and a propensity for pills and alcohol. She's a difficult woman to deal with and her husband has finally had enough. Violet's family gathers including middle daughter Ivy, youngest daughter Karen (with her new fiancé), eldest daughter Barbara (with her separated husband and teenage daughter), and her sister Mattie Fae (with her husband and son in tow). A family tragedy causes tensions to run high and secrets to come out. The Weston women will be forced to examine themselves and their lives whether they want to or not. Welcome to Osage County, Oklahoma in the sweltering heat of August.Written by
napierslogs
The sheriff's car bears an Oklahoma County license plate. Oklahoma County is about 2 1/2 hours away from Osage County. See more »
Quotes
[first lines]
Beverly Weston:
Life is very long. T.S. Elliot. Not the first person to say it, certainly not the first person to think it, but he's given credit for it because he bothered to write it down.
[chuckles]
Beverly Weston:
Now if you say it, you have to say his name after it. "Life is very long." T.S. Elliot. Absolutely goddamn right.
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I don't know whether it was because I'm not a big fan of Meryl Streep's nor Julia Roberts', but the case is that I found August: Osage County a total disaster. Or it might have been because adapting a play to the big screen is even more difficult than a book; sometimes, what works on a stage with the actors live somehow becomes over the top and artificial when it's shot with the characteristic display of Hollywood affectations: the "acting duels", the screams and fuss to simulate emotions, the actresses who accept to look uglier in order to be nominated for the Oscar... in other words, the classic ingredients of an inflated melodrama which wants to be "important" despite failing on every narrative aspect. As for the performances, Streep makes an excellent work as "Meryl Streep with a weird accent" and Roberts is brilliant as "Julia Roberts saying profanity". In summary, there are movies which employ the family dysfunctions as a tool to explore interesting characters on a constant evolution. And there are movies which employ them as an excuse to bring us 2 hours of tedium and clamor. August: Osage County definitely belongs to the second group.
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I don't know whether it was because I'm not a big fan of Meryl Streep's nor Julia Roberts', but the case is that I found August: Osage County a total disaster. Or it might have been because adapting a play to the big screen is even more difficult than a book; sometimes, what works on a stage with the actors live somehow becomes over the top and artificial when it's shot with the characteristic display of Hollywood affectations: the "acting duels", the screams and fuss to simulate emotions, the actresses who accept to look uglier in order to be nominated for the Oscar... in other words, the classic ingredients of an inflated melodrama which wants to be "important" despite failing on every narrative aspect. As for the performances, Streep makes an excellent work as "Meryl Streep with a weird accent" and Roberts is brilliant as "Julia Roberts saying profanity". In summary, there are movies which employ the family dysfunctions as a tool to explore interesting characters on a constant evolution. And there are movies which employ them as an excuse to bring us 2 hours of tedium and clamor. August: Osage County definitely belongs to the second group.