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August: Osage County

(2014) *** R
121 min. The Weinstein Company. Director: John Wells. Cast: Julia Roberts, Meryl Streep, Julianne Nicholson, Juliette Lewis, Benedict Cumberbatch, Margo Martindale, Chris Cooper, Ewan McGregor, Dermot Mulroney, Misty Upham.

/content/films/4634/1.jpgIt may be 30 below in Cass County this week, but on screen it's 108 degrees in August: Osage County. And as the old story goes, when the day is hot, there's no escaping a brawl. Based on Tracy Letts' Pulitzer Prize-winning drama (also Best Play at the Tonys), August: Osage County probably isn't for most boxing or MMA enthusiasts. But it'll be raw meat for theater fans or anyone who enjoys seeing a dysfunctional family strap on the gloves and go a few rounds. The Weston clan is, by design, the mother of all post-Greek tragedy dysfunctional families, and since that "mother" is Meryl Streep, hold on to your popcorn.

Streep plays Violet Weston, who reluctantly plays host to her three grown daughters (and their significant others) when their soused father Beverly (Sam Shepard) goes AWOL. The mystery of Beverly's disappearance serves as little more than a catalyst for explosive reactions amongst the characters and secrets jammed into the dim, depressing Weston house (tapping the shades, one character ruefully remarks, "You can't tell if it's night or day"). And so the three sisters—Barbara (Julia Roberts), Ivy (Julianne Nicholson) and Karen (Juliette Lewis)—commiserate and attempt to handle, or simply bear, their overbearing mother, whose ironic mouth cancer has her doubling down on her addictions to pills and sowing unhappiness. Why, Violet seems to reckon, should she be alone in being miserable? There's enough to go around. Underneath the vitriol, though, we're led to believe that the lyrics of Violet's favorite boogie ("Lay Down Sally") express a hidden longing for the best family has to offer.

All of the play's shock-value plot bombs, and its overdoses of self-destructiveness and destructiveness, can be a bit obvious and get a bit tedious. The playwright has adapted his own work for director John Wells (The Company Men), but absent the electricity of live-wire live performance, the play's paucity of depth becomes more obvious. What's left to carry the day are a nasty streak of black comedy and the redoubtable acting ensemble. Streep does her virtuoso thing, not so much disappearing into a role as playing it like the world's greatest electric-guitar solo; her performance is just what the film needs, and it's nicely complemented by Roberts' sourly reactive turn (it's one of the play's best jokes—and threats—that Barbara seems well on her way to becoming Violet).

Also kicking around are Ewan McGregor, the ubiquitous Benedict Cumberbatch, Margo Martindale, Chris Cooper, Dermot Mulroney and Misty Upham, all entirely effective. With material that often spikes to 11 on the volume dial, the understatement of actors like Nicholson and Cooper redefines scene stealing and swiftly endears those characters and their portrayers to the audience. One thing's for sure. When people get a load of the dinner scene here, they'll be counting their lucky stars for the relative calm of their own family get-togethers.

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Bluray

Aspect ratios: 2.40:1

Number of discs: 2

Audio: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1

Street date: 4/8/2014

Distributor: Anchor Bay/Starz

Anchor Bay/Starz delivers reference quality A/V and a substantial collection of bonus features in its Blu-ray + DVD + Digital HD Ultraviolet special edition of August: Osage County. The picture quality is glorious, though what it depicts is often shadowy or dingy. A rock-solid black level helps with that, but director John Wells does frequently take the film outdoors, where the clarity of the sun-baked landscape is striking. Detail and textures are spectacular all around, and there's a veneer of film grain that keeps the image looking natural. Likewise, one couldn't ask for more from the lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix, which of course prioritizes dialogue to a fare-thee-well. Realistically rendered music and sound effects contribute to an immersive ambience, and when the music is given full weight on the soundtrack, it comes through with an impressive dynamic range.

Bonus features kick off with an audio commentary by director John Wells and director of photography Adriano Goldman. Yes, they talk about the weather, but even that's more interesting than you would think in this typically technical-minded but informative feature commentary. There's much information about the location and approaches to shooting the picture, but also some attention paid to character and the cast.

"The Making of August: Osage County" (19:45, HD) gathers interviews from a number of sources (EPK and junket clips, screening Q&As) to put together the big picture of cast and crew observations about each other, the source material, the production, and the musical contributions of Kings of Leon.

Five "Deleted Scenes" (10:47, HD)—"Bill and Barbara Fight" (2:27), "Violet Nags Ivy" (1:38), "I'm Really Happy" (1:00), "Little Charles on the Bus" (:23), and "Sisters Reunited" (Alternate) (5:17)—come with optional commentary by Wells and Goldman.

The most intriguing feature in the set is "On Writing" (7:39, HD), which allows Pulitzer Prize winnning Tracy Letts discusses his inspirations for the play, which he adapted into the film's screenplay, and the cast assembled for the film.

Review gear:
Panasonic Viera TC-P55VT30 55" Plasma 1080p 3D HDTV
Oppo BDP-93 Universal Network 3D Blu-ray Disc Player
Denon AVR2112CI Integrated Network A/V Surround Receiver
Pioneer SP-BS41-LR Bookshelf Speaker (2)
Pioneer SP-C21 Center Speaker
Pioneer SW-8 Subwoofer

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