The
Weston family takes dysfunction to a whole new level in John Wells'
August: Osage County,
based on Tracy Letts' Pulitzer and Tony winning stage production, and
adapted for the screen by the playwright himself.
I use
the term “adapted” very loosely, because August: Osage
County demonstrates very little
adaptation in its transition between mediums. The only significant
alteration is a divisive new ending tacked on by notoriously
editorial executive Harvey Weinstein, which doesn't exactly cast a
vote of confidence in Letts' originally dour conclusion. But by most
accounts from the Broadway crowd who were fortunate enough to see the
play in its intended form, the two-act structure and abundance of
spiny dialogue therein has been preserved for the film, virtually to
the letter.
