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Review

A star rating of 3 out of 5.

In this dramatisation of JD Vance's acclaimed 2016 memoir, getting to Yale is no mean achievement for a student from raw Kentucky mountain folk, yet staying in school while dealing with his volatile mother's ongoing personal issues may prove the sterner challenge. Amy Adams gives a showy performance running through man trouble, substance abuse and explosive rage as the protagonist's loving yet chaotic mum, while a frizzy-wigged Glenn Close proves a serial scene-stealer as the clan's doughty matriarch, dispensing pithy wisdom and tough love. With A Beautiful Mind director Ron Howard returning to drama after a foray into documentary, all this plays like a frontal assault on the sensibilities of awards season voters, lending a somewhat calculating air to potentially affecting material. Still, the back-and-forth storytelling is adeptly constructed, Gabriel Basso believably holds everything together as the older JD, and there's much truthful observation of the stakes and perils of social mobility. Hillbilly Elegy is never less than watchable, but it does rather give off a distracting aura of Hollywood A-listers artfully slumming it.

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Credits

Cast

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BevAmy Adams
MamawGlenn Close
JD VanceGabriel Basso
LindsayHaley Bennett
UshaFreida Pinto
PapawBo Hopkins
Young JD VanceOwen Asztalos
MattJesse C Boyd
Bonnie (Mamaw, 30s)Sunny Mabrey
Young Lori (6 years)Lucy Capri

Crew

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DirectorRon Howard

Details

Released on
2020-11-24
Languages
English
Guidance
violence, swearing, drug abuse
Available on
DVD
Formats
Colour
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