HILLBILLY ELEGY Review

It's difficult to know where to begin with Hillbilly Elegy. In one sense, we have to consider the context of the individuals this story is about and in another we must accept this specific facet to be the truth of their lives. How does one reconcile that author J.D. Vance's memoir on which this film is based is both undoubtedly a vivid recollection of his own childhood as well as a romanticized portrait of a place in America where the pride of having been left behind has a lot to do with the refusal to move forward? The conflicted feelings about how and what the film is representing naturally extend to the DNA of the film itself as, in the opening moments, Gabriel Basso's Vance tells us how much he loved visiting rural Kentucky when he was a boy despite being raised in the rust belt of Ohio; it was the memories he made while visiting the Blue Grass State that he was most fond of. The film quickly contradicts these kind words with a scene where a thirteen year-old Vance (Owen Asztalos) encounters a band of local bullies before being rescued by his local relatives in Kentucky. Vance is obviously sentimental about these moments and has therefore made them more appealing in his memory, but how far does the gaze of these rose-tinted glasses reach? Depending on the author's age at the time of the events being described, what circumstances are being missed and what details are being diminished? How much is Vance actually misremembering? There are a lot of questions left unanswered that director Ron Howard doesn't feel the need to address as he largely focuses on the core family dynamic at the heart of Vance's story, but what's riveting about the execution of Hillbilly Elegy is that it feels the need to explain as much as it does chronicle the reasons these people have ended up the way they have. There is this notion that because they really are well-meaning people underneath their poor life choices that they deserve some type of exception when it comes to discussing said shortcomings. Aside from the complicated cultural discussion around the "hillbilly condition" though, and how sorry viewers should be made to feel for these individuals who can't get out of their own way, Howard and screenwriter Vanessa Taylor (The Shape of Water) smartly focus on the prevalent themes around how much community and family genuinely mattered to Vance while growing up in these undeniably unforgiving environments and the complexities of the problems he faced and deals with well into his adult life due to this jagged support system.       

First Trailer for DIARY OF A WIMPY KID: THE LONG HAUL

For three years in a row back in 2010, 2011, and 2012 my wife, her younger brother, and I went to see each of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid movies on opening weekend and though it became evident by the time that third film came around in 2012 that the stars were getting older the box office always remained about the same with each film pulling in anywhere from $72 to $77 million worldwide. with the bulk of that obviously coming from domestic receipts, it was hard to think the studio would let this franchise rest forever. Those domestic receipts dwindled with each installment, but not to great extent. And so, once the first trilogy of films were complete 20th Century Fox seemingly decided to give audiences five years to wipe the slate clean and allow a new crop of young children a chance to discover the Wimpy Kid book series before now re-casting the ensemble and crafting a new feature. Though I was never a huge fan of the series (the second feature, Rodrick Rules, was definitely my favorite) I can certainly see why it is appealing and why there is a desire to produce as much merchandise past the books as possible, including movies. And to be honest, the intended audience for these movies deserve more movies of this ilk as they have been severely deprived of quality live action adventures that feature protagonists just shy of their tween years, when the innocence is still ripe and funny and entertaining. Still, compared to the earlier three films this latest incarnation doesn't look nearly as promising or the cast nearly as appealing-I'm especially sad Fox didn't decide to at least keep Steve Zahn and Rachael Harris on as the mom and dad. Instead, we'll have Alicia Silverstone and Thomas Everett Scott looking to fill their shoes with Jason Drucker taking over the role of Greg, Charlie Wright filling the role of older brother Rodrick, and Owen Asztalos as best friend Rowley. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul opens on May 19, 2017.