Ron Howard's Hillbilly Elegy's reviews are out! And I think the internet is on fire. They are not catastrophic, but they aren't good either! It seems people praise Adams and, mostly Close, for their performances, but the movie itself lacks depht. The movie was considered a major Netflix's awards contender before its release and an awards vehicle for both Glenn Close and Amy Adams, but I doubt it will score more than a Best Supporting Actress (Close) and a Best Makeup & Hair nominations at the Academy Awards. Even Close, who was considered the frontrunner given how meaty her role is and how overdue for a win she is, might be at risk of not winning (or not being nominated at all).
A note to Gabriel Basso, who seems to be received really fine reviews for his performance as the older J.D. Vance. No matter how polarizing the reviews are, the critics seem to agree he's good as the movie's leading man.
And while I must wait until Hillbilly Elegy's available on Netflix so I can watch/stream it, there are some reviews that show how bad received it was.
THE GUARDIAN – “But it feels contrived and self-conscious.” RATING: 2 / 5
DEADLINE – ” It’s a tough role and Adams brilliantly brings it home, managing some barn burning scenes but never going over the top. (…) Close is just magnificent here, physically and emotionally ripping into Mamaw and delivering another unforgettable character in a career that has been full of them. (…) I can’t think of better timing for this heart wrenching and deeply affecting story of family.”
VANITY FAIR – “Hillbilly Elegy is shameful oscar bait (…) Howard has made a terminally bland movie, forsaking style (and, really, substance) because it figures the film’s noble act of translation is enough. Hillbilly Elegy probably would have won a bunch of Emmys in the late 1990s (…) Adams, as ever, gives it her best. (…) Every note of Close’s performance is a glaring actor choice, all grim calculation masked as empathy”
USA TODAY – “Glenn Close’s tough-love grandma can’t save Netflix’s mediocre ‘Hillbilly Elegy’ (…) It’s weighted heavily in Bev’s favor for much of the first half, chock full of Adams usually shouting, snarking and/or snarling (…) Close deserves Oscar nod No. 8 for giving off a palpable, unconventional warmth.” RATING: 2 / 4
VARIETY – “The movie is an American Gothic redneck soap opera, built to showcase the cussed flamboyance of characters (…) As long as Close is acting up an award-worthy storm (her performance is actually quite meticulous), “Hillbilly Elegy” is never less than alive. Adams does some showpiece acting of her own, but as skillful as her performance is, she never gets us to look at Bev with pity and terror. What we should feel is, “There but for the grace of God go I.” Instead we think, “Thank God I don’t know this person.”
COLLIDER – “‘Hillbilly Elegy’ Is Laughably Horrendous in Every Way” (…) Director Ron Howard has made what’s arguably the worst film of his career with a banal, trite story of family dysfunction devoid of any nuance or normalcy. It takes two of our greatest actors—Amy Adams and Glenn Close—and saddles them with such cartoonish characters that we’re left questioning the talent of actors we know are talented. Nothing about this movie works, but it does offer some unexpected and unintended laughs. (…) Amy Adams is an amazing actor who should have at least one or two Oscars by now, but here she’s reduced to caricature and we never get to see Beverly’s humanity. She is a bad mom and an addict, but she also loves her kids when she’s not treating them terribly". RATING: F
INDIEWIRE – "The source material has been stripped of its libertarian streak (in addition to any other social commentary) and sandblasted into something that more closely resembles a shouty episode of “This Is Us” in both structure and tone (…) For another thing, these scenes have the benefit of Glenn Close, who resists caricature at every turn and temptation while anchoring a movie that’s constantly on the precipice of the parody it never becomes. The Oscar-starved narrative the actress has been forced to carry since her losing campaign for “The Wife” isn’t helped by a part that’s one fake nose away from “Tropic Thunder” territory, but Close loves to disappear before our eyes, and her Mamaw is real despite everything as a woman whose entire life could be described as “despite everything.” While Adams is tasked to slingshot and spiral, Close is challenged with holding down the fort and paving over the most egregious of this film’s many elisions”. RATING: C -
CINEMABLEND – "It’s rich material from an acting perspective, as stars Amy Adams and Glenn Close play wild and flawed women of Appalachia trying to do right by their family, and they both sink their teeth into the meaty roles. That, unfortunately, is where the real substance ends, however. Based on a memoir, it has no real story to tell, but hopes to distract you from that fact with its non-linear construction and heightened circumstance. Save for its best performances, it’s merely another rote story about basic family drama and accepting one’s own roots, and is unable to possess any real emotional impact. (…) With Adams vying for Best Actress, that leaves Glenn Close with the fight for Best Supporting Actress, and it’s a field in which she’ll compete well with her Hillbilly Elegy turn. It’s most certainly a trope role – the family matriarch who gets shit done regardless of personal cost – but Close has a lot of fun with it”. RATING: 2 / 5
CHICAGO SUN-TIMES – “In Adams’ tour de force performance, we can see the flicker of pain in Bev’s eyes any time she’s hurt or disappointed, and we know what’s coming: She’ll hurt someone else in a tragically misguided effort to mitigate her own pain. (…) In Adams’ tour de force performance, we can see the flicker of pain in Bev’s eyes any time she’s hurt or disappointed, and we know what’s coming: She’ll hurt someone else in a tragically misguided effort to mitigate her own pain. (…) Director Howard isn’t one for flashy tricks and gimmicks, but he displays his usual deft touch for the material”. RATING: 4 / 4
VOX – “Everything about Netflix’s Hillbilly Elegy movie is awful (…) But whatever your opinion of the book, the movie is a different animal, and a startlingly terrible one. (…) But Hillbilly Elegy is also just strangely gross. It’s not that actors can’t play characters who have lived very different lives from them — especially two actors as versatile as Adams and Close. But their performances here feel bizarrely theatrical, as if they had to wind themselves up to Perform, with a capital P, as strange creatures they’ve never encountered before. They’re not humanizing portrayals”. RATING: 1/5
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