Film
August: Osage County
Tracy Letts adapted his own Pulitzer-winning play, and it plays like a very good stage production filmed with movie stars: hot, airless rooms, one long unbearable dinner, and Meryl Streep detonating scene after scene as a pill-addled, poison-tongued matriarch. It's for people who like their family drama loud, literary, and merciless — less a film than a pressure cooker with a cast this good queuing up to get scalded.
If you liked this
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?1966
The template for domestic warfare as blood sport — two marriages, one house, and dialogue sharpened into weapons. Taylor and Burton go for the throat and never let up.
But Unrelenting and claustrophobic by design; if Violet Weston already exhausted you, this doubles down without mercy.

Long Day's Journey Into Night1962
Another great American play about addiction, denial and a family that loves each other into ruin, filmed with the same theatrical intensity and a towering Katharine Hepburn.
But Slower and more mournful than confrontational — this simmers rather than explodes, which some will find airless.

Rachel Getting Married2008
A messy, handheld family wedding where old wounds crash the party. Anne Hathaway is raw and unlikeable in the best way, and the ensemble feels genuinely, chaotically related.
But The loose, improv-heavy style is a big shift from Letts' tightly scripted showdowns — this feels lived-in rather than staged.

The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
Hereditary2018
Both trace a poisonous matriarchal legacy passed down to daughters who can't escape it, climaxing in a family gathering that detonates the truth. Hereditary just swaps courtroom-drama dialogue for genuine terror.
Toni Collette's matriarch is Violet Weston's shadow self — same inherited damage, same dinner-table detonation — except the family curse turns out to be literal, not metaphorical.
But It's a horror film, full stop; if you came for prestige drama, the shift into dread and violence may feel like a bait-and-switch.

More like this (8)
The Savages2007
Laura Linney and Philip Seymour Hoffman as estranged siblings forced together by a parent's decline — funnier, sadder and quieter than you'd expect from the premise.
But Much smaller in scale and volume; if you wanted operatic screaming matches, this is closer to a sigh.

This Is Where I Leave You2014no page yet
A starry ensemble sits shiva together and old sibling grudges resurface fast. Broader and warmer than Letts' version, but the DNA of forced-family-togetherness is identical.
But Plays its darkest material for easy laughs and a tidy ending — don't expect the same teeth.
The Family Stone2005
A holiday gathering where a difficult matriarch, buried secrets and clashing personalities detonate over one house and one dinner table — the structure Letts loves, softened for the mainstream.
But Considerably gentler and more sentimental; the wounds here heal by the credits, which won't satisfy everyone.

Ordinary People1980
A quieter, colder cousin — grief curdling into cruelty inside a family that can't say what it means. Mary Tyler Moore's mother is a masterclass in controlled damage.
But Restrained where August is theatrical; if you wanted fireworks, this is closer to a slow leak.

Little Miss Sunshine2006
Same DNA — a family barely holding together, forced into close quarters, secrets spilling under pressure — but played as a road-trip comedy with real heart underneath.
But Far lighter and more whimsical; anyone wanting Violet-level venom will find this almost too kind.

Home for the Holidays1995no page yet
Jodie Foster's underrated Thanksgiving comedy nails the specific hell of grown siblings regressing the moment they walk through their parents' door.
But Modest and unglamorous compared to the awards-season heft of Streep and Roberts — a lower-key pleasure, not a showcase.
Capturing the Friedmans2003
Same engine — a house, a crisis, and family members forced to reckon with what they've refused to say aloud for years — but it's documentary, so the wreckage is real and the actors aren't performing.
A real family disintegrates on camera as a criminal accusation forces decades of denial into the open — home movies and interviews replacing Letts' monologues, with none of the safety net of fiction.
But There's no catharsis or resolution here, and the subject matter is genuinely disturbing in ways a scripted film can soften.

Death at a Funeral2007
Strip out the tragedy and August: Osage County's shape is a farce already — one house, one day, every relative's worst secret surfacing at once. This just plays that structure for its natural comedy instead of fighting it.
A British farce where one family crisis brings everyone home and every buried secret detonates within a single afternoon — structurally the same play, pitched entirely for laughs.
But It's broad, silly, occasionally gross-out comedy; if you want your family reckonings to sting rather than cackle, this will feel weightless.

People
Cast
Meryl StreepViolet Weston
Julia RobertsBarbara Weston
Julianne NicholsonIvy Weston
Juliette LewisKaren Weston
Ewan McGregorBill Fordham
Margo MartindaleMattie Fae Aiken
Abigail BreslinJean Fordham
Chris CooperCharlie Aiken
Dermot MulroneySteve Huberbrecht
Benedict CumberbatchLittle Charles Aiken
Misty UphamJohnna Monevata
Sam ShepardBeverly Weston
Directing
- John WellsDirector
- Ian CalipSecond Assistant Director
Writing
- Tracy LettsScreenplay
- Tracy LettsTheatre Play
Production
- Kerry BardenCasting
- Paul SchneeCasting
- Arny GranatExecutive Producer
- Ben FamigliettExecutive Producer
- Bob WeinsteinExecutive Producer
- Celia D. CostasExecutive Producer
- Claire Rudnick PolsteinExecutive Producer
- Harvey WeinsteinExecutive Producer
- Jeffrey RichardsExecutive Producer
- Jerry FrankelExecutive Producer
- Ron BurkleExecutive Producer
- George ClooneyProducer
- Grant HeslovProducer
- Jean DoumanianProducer
- Patrick DalyProducer
- Steve TraxlerProducer
- Deb DyerUnit Production Manager
Recommended by
Fences, Hannah and Her Sisters, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Cries and Whispers, Rachel Getting Married, Long Day's Journey Into Night, The Family Stone, Margot at the Wedding