Have you ever run across an article in which the heading grabbed your attention? Perhaps you took that title as the whole story and ran with it to others. Maybe you even clicked on the story and gave the content a gander. While we have all likely made the mistake of taking a heading for what it suggested the article to be about, many of us have also read a story only to discover that what we clicked on it for was not what it appeared to be. This, ladies and gentlemen, is known as “clickbait.” A-ha, that reminds me!…
During this time of the year, the film studios and production companies send out all of their projects to the masses for the sole purpose of attracting the voters for various, upcoming awards. This, as you might have guesses, is known as “Oscar bait.” While certain people have various details on what they perceive as that kind of bait, for me, it is quite simple: anything that is meant to be considered for such an award. So, really, it is the timing, above all else and not so much the content or cast, for instance.
Netflix has become a major player, especially during the pandemic of 2020. Like the rest of the major distributors, they have thrown their hats into the ring, with the hopes of landing some key nominations, which could lead to greater production limits in the near (and distant) future. So far, things have only been progressing, despite some lackluster releases, throughout. Dare I even make mention of 2018’s “The Little Mermaid.” Surely, it cannot get any worse than that, can it?…
‘Hillbilly Elegy’ is a memoir written by one J.D. Vance and was first published in 2016. 
Right away, I wish to commend this man for his efforts and future successes involving this book and any of his upcoming endeavors. No doubt, his work has reached some people who have not been heard from in certain circles around this country and now they have an apparent intermediary. Vanessa Taylor (“The Shape of Water”) adapted the screenplay once Imagine Entertainment won the rights to produce the movie, with Ron Howard (“Solo: a Star Wars Story”) on board to direct.
Our story begins in Kentucky, where a teenaged boy (J.D., played by Owen Asztalos) rescues an injured turtle, just missing it with his bicycle, before returning it to a safer places in the woods, by a lake. He believes it can recover. After a series of small incidents, varying from rough behavior in and out of the lake and nearby family members scuffling with neighborhood bullies, J.D. leaves the region, with: his grandparents, Papaw Vance and Bonnie Vance (played by Bo Hopkins and Glenn Close) and his mother and sister, Beverly Vance and Lindsay Vance (played by Amy Adams and Haley Bennett). The plan is to return to Ohio, where the family had once lived, generations before.
Intercut with these scenes of Ohio living in the late 1990s are scenes from the early 2010s, which place a grown up J.D. (played by Gabriel Basso, “The Whole Truth”) at Yale as he navigates through law school, along with his special lady, Usha (played by Freida Pinto, “Love, Wedding, Repeat”). 
He has been informed that his mother has regressed back into hard drug use and that his family needs his help back at home. As he journeys back to Ohio, various flashbacks ensue. Most of them are related to a specific theme that has been brought up in conversation during the present day and there are many of them. Each are high-pitched with emotions and different types of abuse and after awhile it all begins to feel repetitive and overly melodramatic. It made me wonder if this could have been avoided by not going back and forth with the past and present so much or by simply telling the story in a more linear kind of way.
Amy Adams (“Vice”) and Glenn Close (“The Wife”) have certainly had more than their fair share of outstanding acting roles over the years and they were really the anchors for this entire movie. While I thought that Adams was very believable as Beverly, I did not think this so much for Close as Mamaw Vance. 
Yes, the filmmakers did a very good job on her makeup and wardrobe, when looking upon the real person that she portrayed, but her movements seemed too rehearsed to be natural and I felt like I was watching more of an impersonation than a true performance. However, this is merely my personal opinion and I am more than willing to accept that I could be outweighed by those who disagree with me.
Early on, I was reminded of another movie I saw this year, which explored some similar themes, though it took place in a different time in history. I believe that it was, too, a Netflix original. I would say that there is a definite common thread between those two, but one was better overall because it did not look to be as over-the-top in its performances, throughout. A feverish pitch gets tiresome after awhile and then you find yourself annoyed by what you are watching. I thought that “Hillbilly Elegy” wrapped things up fairly well and I did like some of the messages I uncovered, such as “forgiveness equals freedom” (in so many words), but I am only happy for the real people who survived these difficult times, not the ones portraying them within the movie. We shall see if the voting community takes the bait or not, but, hey, at least the movie is not as bad as the Netflix adaptation of “The Little Mermaid,” although I think I am being a little bit generous, as well.
Director: Ron Howard
Screenwriter: Vanessa Taylor
Music: Hans Zimmer and David Fleming
Starring: Amy Adams, Glenn Close, Gabriel Basso, Haley Bennett (“The Devil All the Time”), Freida Pinto and Bo Hopkins (“The Boys at the Bar”)
Distributor: Netflix
Release: November 11th, 2020
