Watching “August: Osage County” several things ran through my head:
1) What a great 1940s,1950s movie this would have made
2) Where is Bette Davis when you need her? She would have acted the role of Violet
     Weston off the screen where Meryl Streep just ’acts’
3) No doubt Tracy Letts, who wrote the 3 hour Pulitzer prize winning play and this
     2 hour and 10 minute screenplay, is the heir to Tennessee Williams, Eugene
     O’Neil and Edward Albee
4) We know it is a 21st century screenplay with all the women throwing around the
      “F” word along with a talk fest shouting out the various names for a woman’s
     Vagina--Warner Brothers would never allowed that.

“August:
Osage County” is about a family and their secrets--which many can be
guessed--with an all star cast. We start by meeting Beverly Weston (Sam
Shepard) who admits he is an alcoholic and he tells us that his wife
Violet (Meryl Streep) ‘takes pills’. He is interviewing Johanna (Misty
Upham) as a full time home and caretaker. He quotes T.S. Eliot saying
“Life is very long.”

We meet their 3 children, the oldest being
Barbara (Julia Roberts) who is separated from her husband Bill (Ewan
McGregor) and their vegan, pot smoking teenage daughter Jean (Abigail
Breslin). The middle daughter Ivy (Julianne Nicholson) is the only one
who remained home and has a secret of her own while the youngest one,
Karen (Juliette Lewis) has brought her fiancée Steve (Dermot Mulroney)
home. There is Violet’s sister, Nattie Fae (Margo Martindale), her
husband, Charlie (Chris Cooper) and their  adult son Little Charles
(Benedict Cumberbatch).

With a professional cast like this it
takes a lot to be a standout but Julia Roberts is and in her scenes with
Streep not only holds her own but bests her a few times. Chris Cooper
has a stunning monologue while Martindale makes a confession that could
be laughable but makes very believable. Cumberbatch underplays his role
to effect while Mulroney seems to be a fish out of water as a ‘player’
from Miami in Oklahoma would be while Lewis doesn’t fit in as a member
of this family.

Letts, compressing his 3 hour play, can’t seem to
make the story anything but a soap opera with star turns for all the
cast. John Wells, the director, opened the stage play to include many
outdoor scenes but the major action takes place in the house. There are
no intermissions as there are in plays so about 10 minutes of ‘artistic’
shots could have and should have been cut.

Both Streep and
Roberts have been up for many awards, winning a few, and in all
probability will be nominated for Oscars as Best Actress and Best
Supporting Actress. Both have very stiff competition and I doubt either
will win but the latetr certainly deserves to win.

“August:
Osage County” is a throw back to films of old but I think it would have
been better if shorter and a ‘quieter’ actress (or Bette Davis) playing
the role of Violet.