August: Osage County: taking the idea that “each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way” to the point of caricature, this film ends up with a gallery of characters that are uni-dimensional and uninteresting. Perhaps a lighter hand than John Wells’ would have worked better, but the screenplay seems more interested in giving actors the chance to act broadly within a given type then let them build rich characters. It is a great looking cast, led by Meryl Streep, but her performance, while technically perfect, feels calculated, insincere; the rest of the cast show the same downside without her brilliance.