August: Osage County

***
UK Release Date: January 24th 2014
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.

Director: John Wells (The Company Men)

Starring: Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, Chris Cooper, Ewan McGregor, Margo Martidale, Sam Shepard, Dermot Mulroney, Juliette Lewis, Abigail Breslin, Benedict Cumberbatch

August: Osage County focuses on a family who 'represent' the typical Osage-ian family. The Westons flock to their family home after Beverly (Shepard) commits suicide. At the centre of it all is the intolerable, pill popping Violet (Streep). She's as rude as she is crude, forever rubbing salt in her three daughters old wounds. 

Violet's attitude is mesmerising. The nastier she is the funnier it is. Her eldest daughter Barbera (Julia Roberts) is the most affected by her troubled childhood. She's bitter and twisted, constantly resenting her mom and her mom's actions, which reflects on her own family (McGregor and Breslin). 

Like Violet and Barbera, every Weston has a secret, but by the end it comes flowing out like a water fountain. A:OC is based on a play but feels like an extended episode of Eastenders. 

From the copious amounts of bad comes some hilarious amounts of good. A 20 minute dinner scene sees the family willing to get along after the funeral of Beverly, having a laugh and forgetting about their past, only to be brought back down to a miserable level by Violet. She eventually admits her love for drugs and that's when Barbera hits breaking point and flies at Violet like a bullet, dragging her to the floor. Roberts is pure gold. 

Verdict: Roberts, Streep and the rest are a joy to watch, even if the story meanders to an obsolete ending. This dysfunctional family make it worth the watch.