August: Osage County

It’s hard to have the Thrilla in Manila with only one heavyweight. And while the ensemble—including Chris Cooper, Ewan McGregor and Julia Roberts—are all very good, there’s only one Meryl Streep. And when she’s throwing knockout punches in August: Osage County, she might as well be alone up there. Based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning play and adapted for the screen by its author, Tracy Letts, Osage County brings together the ultimate dysfunctional family, holed up in rural Oklahoma and opening old wounds. Streep is the pill-popping matriarch and Roberts leads a trio of daughters. The volcanic dinner scene was the centerpiece of the play, and that still holds true. But this feels like a filmed play more than a movie—most of the scenes are too long and there’s not a great symmetry or fluidity along the way. But good God, that Meryl Streep.