August: Osage County By Lotta Buddah

Ah, a nice family post-funeral dinner. Momma hasn’t arrived yet, thus the smiles.

I’m spent. After seeing August: Osage County, starring such big guns as Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts, I’m wiped out, but in a good way. Here are the lessons I learned from watching the story of this totally dysfunctional family that comes together on the occasion of the patriarch’s suicide:

1. Watching Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts was a masters acting lesson on the big screen. Streep is phenomenal and Julie Roberts keeps getting better. This may be both of their best roles and that’s saying a lot, especially for Streep. And neither one was afraid to look wrinkled and far less than glamorous. There were no wrinkle-erasers being used here.

2. All families are messed up to one degree or another. So watching this movie will A) give you comfort that you’re family isn’t the only crazy one B) comfort you that your family, which you thought was mayhem really isn’t and C) provide a warning as to how poor parenting patterns and just plain bad choices can filter down from generation to the next, poisoning everyone within reach, along the way.

3. It is SO not cool to wrestle your elderly mother to the floor to pry a bottle of pills out of her hand, no matter what! That was a shocker of a scene that elicited a gasp out of the audience. I’m not spoiling anything by telling you about that scene since it’s the graphic featured on the movie’s website.

4. There’s being honest and there’s what Meryl Streep’s character refers to as “truth-telling,” her excuse for being cruel. Most of us know that lesson but it’s worth repeating. It’s no coincidence that her character, Violet (so NOT an appropriate name for her) has mouth cancer, which causes her mouth to constantly burn, sending forth flames of cruelty to everyone within earshot.

August: Osage County invites some big film names to the table before smashing dishes in a cloud of cigarette smoke. Besides Streep and Roberts, there’s Chris Cooper as the sweet, sweet brother-in-law who protects his grown son from the cruelty even his own wife can’t escape spewing due to the family curse of mean, bitchy women.  With hardened Roberts as her mom and wimpy, weary Ewan McGregor as her dad, Abigail Breslin does a fine job as a sulky 14-year-old dragged into this mess while dealing with her own home-life mess. Juliette Lewis is the fluffy sister who can’t let go of her dream of a happily ever after, seeing everything through smudged rose-colored glasses, including her smarmy fiance, Dermot Mulroney. Julianne Nicholson, in her freckled adorable-ness, is a breath of sad, calm, fresh air. There are more stellar performances among this cast that has now been nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award(R) for Best Ensemble Cast. It’s so deserved as are the nominations for Best Actress for Streep and Best Supporting Actress for Roberts.

I bet after filming each day, the entire cast had to take long showers, scrubbing off the emotional yuck of this movie. And I bet they were also grateful for, what I hope, is a calmer family life off screen. The movie opens on Christmas day but it would have served the audience well to have had a few days before to see this movie, gaining perspective on their own families and learning some lessons before gathering ’round the table. I know I will be keeping this movie in mind as I gather with family this holiday. And so should you.

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