Review: Hillbilly Elegy

-

 Not like other Yale students™

J.D Vance (Owen Aszataols as a child, and Gabriel Basso as an adult) grew up in rural Ohio/Kentucky with a recovering addict mother,(Amy Adams) his older sister Lindsay (Haley Bennett) and his no nonsense grandmother, Mamaw. (Glenn Close) J.D had a hard life, as many lower income rural people do, but he was able to somehow rise above it all and get to Yale, and boy does he want you to know how much of an anomaly he is.

Everyone is either dumber than J.D, or snootier than him. There's no happy medium, unless we count the underused Frieda Pinto as his girlfriend. We're introduced to to J.D saving a turtle from the middle of the street, and the first person he interacts with is a mouth breathing kid whose only contributions are "let's break open its shell! Let's see how far we can throw it!" Director Ron Howard in his infinite mediocrity really drives home how "less than" everyone is here.

To be fair, this movie isn't the massive trainwreck I thought it would be. It's not good, but it's also not unintentionally funny in the way that Capone was earlier this year. It's dull, insincere, and the acting makes it wildly uneven. I love Amy Adams and she's swinging for the fences here, as is Glenn Close, but this movie is not swinging with them. While she and Close are over the top in moments that seem pre-made for Oscar clips, Basso is completely wooden and feels like he's reading lines from a cue card. The only happy medium is Haley Bennett, and I ended up feeling the worst for her character because of the way she's painted. I constantly asked myself while watching this is "people really behave this way" and the short answer is  yes, but in melodramas. I haven't read the book on which this is based but it felt so phony. I don't mean to take away from what J.D accomplished. Getting into Yale is a big deal but this felt like the most basic rags to riches story. No one felt real.

This is another miss from Ron Howard, and while it's not the worst movie I've seen this year, I have no desire to ever watch it again. I did get a laugh out of Glenn Close a few times, so I guess there's that.

Recommended: No

Grade: C-

Memorable Quote: "Get out before I cancel your birth certificate." - Mamaw (Glenn Close)

Comments

  1. Candice FrederickDecember 1, 2020 at 9:04 AM

    i think ron howard is fine usually, but yes this is extremely mediocre and dull. i didn't hate the film, and i don't think it's insincere (plenty of people live like this). i just think the film is pointless, extremely male and overlooks any real sentiment to tell a drab story that is meaningless

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamDecember 2, 2020 at 10:41 AM

      That's true! When it comes to Howard, I thought I liked him more than I did. When I looked back through his movies, I realized I liked maybe 2 of them and the rest ranged from "meh" to "nah" for me.

      Delete
  2. KatyDecember 1, 2020 at 9:17 AM

    Nice review! The bad hype killed my interest to watch this, especially if it's not intentionally funny like Capone. I'm just hoping Amy doesn't finally win her Oscar for this.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Sonia CercaDecember 1, 2020 at 9:49 AM

    I'm one of those who found it unintentionally funny, but yeah, it wasn't as intense as Capone. I agree on everything else and I just hate they wasted Adams and Pinto like this.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamDecember 2, 2020 at 10:24 AM

      Someone needed to be running around in a diaper with a tommy gun here.

      Delete
  4. keith71_98December 1, 2020 at 10:43 AM

    I didn't dislike this quite like some, but it does have some issues. I actually like Adams' performance but she's written with such a one-dimensional angle. It's clear she's supposed to be a complex individual, but practically all we get is the 'bad side'. Also doesn't help that JD simply isn't that interesting. I did love Close though.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamDecember 2, 2020 at 9:59 AM

      That is an issue, they talk about how Amy's character is supposed to be so smart, clearly competent enough to be a nurse but nope. Just a mean druggie the entire time. It was so shallow.

      Delete
  5. SJHoneywellDecember 1, 2020 at 12:18 PM

    I suppose I'm going to probably have to watch this. It'll get nominated for something, I'm sure. That's the downside of watching based on a list.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamDecember 2, 2020 at 9:58 AM

      I can't imagine this getting nominated for anything, even if older voters have a Ron Howard boner. It's just so bad.

      Delete
  6. thevoid99December 1, 2020 at 6:07 PM

    I have no interest in seeing this as this just looks like bad Oscar-bait. I hate movies like that and I really wish Glenn Close would really just stop doing these kind of performances. It's pathetic. She should just cut her losses and wait for that honorary Oscar or do something that is the antithesis of these Oscar-bait performances. Amy Adams deserves better. Hell, Haley Bennett and Freida Pinto deserve better.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Brittani BurnhamDecember 2, 2020 at 9:54 AM

    Glenn Close was never an actress I cared for. i don't think she's bad, I just don't find her interesting but considering what happened with Colman this does seem like she's trying way too hard. Adams is too. It's just sad all around.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Often Off TopicDecember 3, 2020 at 8:46 AM

    I'm really struggling to find the enthusiasm to watch this. I'm sure it isn't as bad as Film Twitter is making it sound but I haven't found anyone who said it was good!
    I'm not a fan of Glenn Close but I would watch it for Amy Adams <3

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamDecember 4, 2020 at 7:25 AM

      I think if I were from Appalachia, I would be way more offended over how they choose to portray everyone, but I'm from a Northern hick town instead, so I'm still offended, just not as much. lol

      Delete
  9. Tom & JerryDecember 6, 2020 at 8:20 PM

    See you in March.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Thanks for stopping by, let's talk movies!
(comments are moderated to reduce spam)

Popular posts from this blog

Random Ramblings: The Radio Flyer Conundrum

-
Image
Recently, I was talking to someone about who I thought were the best child actors when I was also a child.  Two that really stood out to me were Elijah Wood and Joseph Mazello, and one film those two were in together was called Radio Flyer.  Then I was reminded about the uniqueness of this film. Instead of reviewing the film, I wanted to have an open discussion about the ending. It deals with a tough issue; child abuse. What I’ve noticed is the way that the film ends is interpreted many different ways, and the filmmakers never came forward to say what was right and wrong. I’m interested in hearing everyone’s opinions on it. How did you interpret the ending? Obviously spoiler alerts will follow.. For those of you who haven’t seen the film, the basic premise is this: Two young boys, Mikey (Wood) and Bobby (Mazello) move in with their single mother and her boyfriend, who refers to himself as ‘The King’. It doesn’t take long for The King to start physically abusing ...
Read more

Indie Gems: Behind The Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon

-
Image
Passionate about your profession? I had never heard of this film until it ended up on one of Jason's favorite horror movie lists around Halloween. It immediately sounded interesting to me, so of course I threw it in my Netflix queue. (and if I'm just now watching it after adding it around Halloween, you know how ridiculous my queue is) Taylor (Angela Goethals) is a journalist who, along with a film crew decides to follow around a serial killer named Leslie Vernon. (Nathan Baesel) He plans on doing the typical slasher thing - getting a bunch of drunk teens in an abandoned house and knocking them off one by one. He gets advice from a retired serial killer, Eugene (Scott Wilson) and is threatened by a man who's on to him, Doc Holloran (Robert Englund) Taylor and crew are there capturing it all. Leslie Vernon is fucking hilarious to start with, and clearly very passionate about what he does. He tells Taylor all of his secrets and can barely contain his excitemen...
Read more

My Favorite Movie Youtube Channels

-
Image
Starting around 2018, I started watching Youtube for more than just movie trailers or music videos whenever a new one dropped. Now I'm in full blown subscription mode and don't bat an eyelash at watching a Youtube video that's over an hour long. I watch Youtube for a few different categories of content, but one of them that I love most is movie/TV essays and commentary, and that's what I'm going to talk about today. Below is a list of my favorite movie related Youtube channels. Let me know if you're familiar with them too, or if you have any you'd like to recommend to me.  Double Toasted - I'm honestly surprised this channel isn't bigger. I first came across Korey and Martin when they reviewed War for the Planet of the Apes a few months before it hit theaters and I thought they were hysterical. While their full length videos stream on Twitch, they often upload their movie reviews and commentary on youtube and they're always hilarious. They've...
Read more