While August Osage County starts off by giving you a small lump in the throat, it leaves one wondering in the end if you sympathise less with human failings when they are up in your face screaming for attention.

Wells’ translation is not gratifying because he does not explore the elasticity and scope of cinema—telling much more than he shows. The film’s narrow intensity does not make it profound either.

Finally, despite the superb acting, ‘August : Osage County’ feels becalmed. The heat rises from the ground, but doesn’t really reach us.

The film is full of angry exchanges and confrontations, mostly between the drugged-up Violet and Barbara, who gives as good as she gets. At regular intervals, various crazy secrets of the family emerge. Streep stands out as the unbalanced matriarch. Roberts too is someone to watch out for. In fact, there’s not one weak link in the portrayals of this train-wreck of a family.