Review of August: Osage County (2013) by Foxgrove — 13 Feb 2014

With its theatre origins obviously transparent ths film opens less than auspiciously. Things are not helped by Meryl Streep's initial appearance in which she is way over the top, the mechanics of her particular acting style all too visible.

It takes about 30 minutes for the film to properly find its feet with both acting and writing seeming very uneven. However, with the very entertaining dinner sequence events seem to come very much alive.

Streep settles brilliantly in to her bullish and bullying matriarch and the writing also finds its natural rhythm, ultimately telling a good story with more than a few surprises up its sleeve. Julia Roberts, often too knowing in her roles, is fantastic here.

In between all the fights and vitriol going around she shows great subtlety in some of the quieter scenes with her facial expressions doing a lot of the work. Margo Martindale also has a corker of a scene which propels an important plot point.

In fact the women in the cast outshine their male counterparts by a considerable margin. At the film's close it came as somewhat of a surprise to realise just how much I had enjoyed the preceding two hours.