August: Osage County premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, garnering rave reviews for its leading ladies, Julia Roberts and Meryl Streep.

The Oscar-bait film is adapted from the Pulitzer Prize winning play of the same name about a family that is forced into a reunion when the father, Beverly (Sam Shepard) dies. Three grown daughters, accompanied by their various loves and families, must return home to face their bitter and dramatic mother, Violet (Streep).

Tracy Letts, the playwright, adapted the work for the screenplay, and the result, according to critics, is a film that remains true to the nature of the play.

“Arriving onscreen shorn of some girth (the stage version ran more than three hours, with two intermissions) but keeping most of its scalding intensity, this two-ton prestige pic won’t win the hearts of highbrow critics… but as a faithful filmed record of Letts’ play, one could have scarcely hoped for better,” writes Variety critic Scott Foundas.

August: Osage County has been receiving Oscar buzz before it even began production. The casting – Streep and Roberts as mother and daughter, not to mention Shepard, Juliette Lewis, Dermot Mulroney, Ewan McGregor, Abigail Breslin and Benedict Cumberbatch – was enough to make August: Osage County a sure thing for awards season.

Critics agree that Streep and Roberts will surely gain nothing but praise for their gritty performances in the film.

“There’s simply no denying the brilliant, hostile force with which she [Streep] tears, like a caged animal, into the role of Violet Weston, a great-plains Southern matriarch who specializes in tormenting everyone around her,” writes Owen Gleiberman of EW.

“Streep is electrifying to watch here, goosing, prodding, meting out punishment and laying family secrets bare, surprisingly gentle one moment, demonic the next. And Roberts, who hasn’t had a big, meaty part like this in years, possesses just the right hardened beauty to play an aging woman let down by life, terrified at the thought of becoming her mother,” writes Foundas.

Critic David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter agrees that Roberts may have found her “grittiest role since Erin Brockovich” – the film for which Roberts won an Oscar for Best Actress In A Leading Role.

However, not every member of the cast is worthy of unrestrained adoration according to critics, who point to McGregor as a weak link in the all-star cast. This is not due to his acting ability, but rather to his believability in such a rustic, American setting.

“[McGregor] seems unsure of how to play Bill and not remotely at home in the American heartland. When you have actors with the ease and authenticity of Shepard, Cooper and [Margo] Martindale on hand, the imposters stand out,” writes Rooney.

McGregor's presence didn't seem to have bothered audience members in Toronto, however. Audiences at the Toronto premiere reportedly applauded throughout the film for certain monologues or particularly engaging scenes.

Directed by famed television producer/director John Wells (E.R., Southland), August: Osage County is sure to draw audiences when it is released Dec. 25.

– Olivia Truffaut-Wong

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