Film review: An okay job from the Okies from Muskogee

August: Osage County, the screen adaptation of a 2008 Pulitzer Prize-winning play by American playwright Tracy Lett, is a fierce and sporadically moving portrait of domestic dysfunction and struggle, pitched somewhere between the tragic and the tragicomic, tackling themes that include disease, neglect, abuse, taboos and, to a much lesser degree, the prospect of healing.

The cinematography is lush and unpretentious, but the film is marred by too many exceedingly wordy and preposterous speeches – plus the feeling that you’re watching the pride of Hollywood a little bit puzzled at finding themselves gathered in Oklahoma to act out a famous play.

Ewan McGregor’s character never really feels like he is married to Julia Robert’s – but then of course that bond is vexed, to say the least, and meant to look it. Similarly, what Cumberbatch achieves is not quite the aimed-for ‘black sheep of the family’ – though a courteous reviewer would attribute that to the fact that, unbeknownst to the character, there’s something fishy about his parentage.

Cooper, playing his father, is one of the few thespian pillars on which this behemoth rests, the other being Streep who puts in a performance so outrageous that it makes Leonardo DiCaprio’s recent  antics in The Wolf of Wall Street look tame in comparison. Give her the Oscar (not Roberts) and get on with it.

The story is set in an Oklahoma farmhouse where a dozen family members are gathered for a funeral. Streep’s pill-popping, cancer-suffering, widowed matriarch is so badly affected by her loss that she viciously proceeds to apportion out her pain to every one of her already troubled kin.

“Life is very long,” is the film’s first line, and though the duration of life is the very least of these characters’ problems, the austere quote feels appropriate.
“Thank God, we can’t tell the future – we’d never get out of bed,” Roberts muses later when the traumas reach a breaking point.

This film is long, yes, but it doesn’t really feel it. And you can never quite predict what’ll happen, so if you like your dramas sobering and bracing, get out of bed for this one.


August: Osage County (7)

Dir: John Wells; US drama, 2014, 121 mins;
Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, Chris Cooper, Julianne Nicholson, Ewan McGregor
Premiered February 6
Playing Nationwide



  • Young Copenhageners supply study grants by selling cocaine

    Young Copenhageners supply study grants by selling cocaine

    In recent years, the spread of cocaine has accelerated. The drug is easily accessible and not only reserved for wealthy party heads. Copenhagen Police have just arrested ten young people and charged them with reselling cocaine

  • 5 Mistakes I Made When I Moved to Denmark

    5 Mistakes I Made When I Moved to Denmark

    Here are five mistakes I made that helped me understand that belonging isn’t a strategy—it’s a practice. This isn’t a story of struggle—it’s a reflection on growth, told through the lens of emotional intelligence.

  • Analysis shows that many students from Bangladesh are enrolled in Danish universities

    Analysis shows that many students from Bangladesh are enrolled in Danish universities

    Earlier this year, the Danish government changed the law on access for people from third world countries to the Danish labor market. Yet, there may still be a shortcut that goes through universities

  • Danish Flower company accused of labor abuse in Türkiye

    Danish Flower company accused of labor abuse in Türkiye

    Queen Company, a Denmark-origin flower producer with pristine sustainability credentials, is under fire for alleged labor rights violations at its Turkish operation, located in Dikili, İzmir. Workers in the large greenhouse facility have been calling decent work conditions for weeks. The Copenhagen Post gathered testimonies from the workers to better understand the situation

  • Advice for expats: Navigating Life as an International in Denmark

    Advice for expats: Navigating Life as an International in Denmark

    Beginning this month, Expat Counselling will be contributing a monthly article to The Copenhagen Post, offering guidance, tools, and reflections on the emotional and social aspects of international life in Denmark. The first column is about Strategies for emotional resilience

  • New agreement criticized for not attracting enough internationals

    New agreement criticized for not attracting enough internationals

    Several mayors and business leaders across Denmark are not satisfied with the agreement that the government, the trade union movement and employers made last week. More internationals are needed than the agreement provides for

Connect Club is your gateway to a vibrant programme of events and an international community in Denmark.


  • “It’s possible to lead even though you don’t fit the traditional leadership mold”

    “It’s possible to lead even though you don’t fit the traditional leadership mold”

    Describing herself as a “DEI poster child,” being queer, neurodivergent and an international in Denmark didn’t stop Laurence Paquette from climbing the infamous corporate ladder to become Marketing Vice President (VP) at Vestas. Arrived in 2006 from Quebec, Laurence Paquette unpacks the implications of exposing your true self at work, in a country that lets little leeway for individuality

  • Deal reached to bring more foreign workers to Denmark

    Deal reached to bring more foreign workers to Denmark

    Agreement between unions and employers allows more foreign workers in Denmark under lower salary requirements, with new ID card rules and oversight to prevent social dumping and ensure fair conditions.

  • New association helps international nurses and doctors Denmark

    New association helps international nurses and doctors Denmark

    Kadre Darman was founded this year to support foreign-trained healthcare professionals facing challenges with difficult authorisation processes, visa procedures, and language barriers, aiming to help them find jobs and contribute to Denmark’s healthcare system