On paper, “August: Osage County” looks like a no-brainer awards season behemoth. Based on prize-winning source material? Check. All-star cast? Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, Chris Cooper, Sam Shepard, Benedict Cumberbatch, Juliette Lewis, Ewan McGregor, Abigail Breslin, Dermot Mulroney and Margo Martindale…so hell yes. An exciting director? John Wells. Okay, so two out of three ain’t bad. The end result? Well…
The first trailer for the ensemble dramedy has arrived and it’s…respectable we suppose. The story follows the women of the Weston family, whose lives have splintered in many directions until their alcoholic father’s disappearance brings them back to their childhood home and to the dysfunctional woman who raised them. And while Streep gets a meaty role as the Weston clan matriarch, and the generations-spanning cast does offer some potential, this all feels rather…familiar? There just doesn’t seem to be any particular wow factor here aside from the names involved, but perhaps this ensemble piece is hard to cut into into a two minute piece of advertising.
At any rate The Weinstein Company believes they have a contender, and never count out Meryl. “August: Osage County” opens on November 8th.