MISERY LOVES FAMILY.
When the Weston family patriarch (Sam Shepard) disappears one day, the oldest daughter (Julia Roberts) goes back to her childhood home in Oklahoma; she’s never been able to get along with her pill-popping mother (Meryl Streep). The very dark hit play gets its equally claustrophobic film adaptation. Featuring strong, in some cases showy, performances and captured by a barely noticeable camera, the movie certainly has its spellbinding moments. Expect broken china and barrages of insults, but there’s something a little too contrived about this perfect storm of unhappy people clashing over and over.
2013-U.S. 121 min. Color. Widescreen. Directed by John Wells. Screenplay, Play: Tracy Letts. Cast: Meryl Streep (Violet Weston), Julia Roberts (Barbara Weston), Chris Cooper (Charlie Aiken), Ewan McGregor, Margo Martindale, Sam Shepard… Dermot Mulroney, Julianne Nicholson, Juliette Lewis, Abigail Breslin, Benedict Cumberbatch.
Trivia: Co-produced by George Clooney. Chloë Grace Moretz, Renée Zellweger and Andrea Riseborough were allegedly considered for parts.
