Hillbilly Elegy (2020) * *

 

Directed by:  Ron Howard

Starring:  Amy Adams, Glenn Close, Gabriel Basso, Owen Aszstalos, Freida Pinto, Bo Hopkins, Haley Bennett 

Hillbilly Elegy, based on a memoir by J.D. Vance, never takes off.   We have elements in place, including two showcase performances by Amy Adams and Glenn Close in Oscar-bait roles, but all of the flashbacks and flash forwards between 1997 and 2011 don't generate any cohesive drama.   As played by Gabriel Basso, J.D. Vance is a likable, but dull Yale law student forced to return home to Middletown, Ohio and confront the Demons of His Past after his mother Bev (Adams) overdoses on heroin yet again.   He lands an interview with a prestigious firm as he deals with his mother's condition, so J.D. must figure all of this out and make it back to Washington, DC in time for the interview.   J.D. is saddled with an equally dull, but supportive girlfriend Usha (Pinto), whose job is to call in and remind J.D. he must get on the road NOW if he is to make the interview.

Beginning in 1997, the Vance family move from Kentucky to Ohio in hopes of escaping their Past.  Mamaw (Close) is the chain-smoking matriarch whose own past is marred by abuse, but hopes to steer J.D. in the right direction.   When I say chain smoking, I mean it.   Other than when she is in the hospital hooked up to oxygen, I can't recall a single scene in which Mamaw doesn't have a cigarette in her hand.   The role is limited to Mamaw bellowing out threats to straighten out anyone who messes up, but Close is clearly enjoying herself.   Come Oscar time, will Close win the elusive statue at long last?  She's had many better roles than this one, but this could be the one which finally nabs Close a trophy.  

Adams' role also checks the Oscar-contending role boxes.   A normally attractive woman who uglies herself up to play a down-and-out addict who was once a nurse.   Adams gets to scream at people and emote, which she does very well, and I'd be surprised if her name wasn't mentioned on the morning of the Oscar nominations.   Will Adams win on what would be her seventh nomination?   We shall see.  

As J.D.'s past gradually reveals itself, including dealing with his mother's mess of a life and his own flirtation with heading down his mother's path, I can't say I was much moved.   Even though this is Vance's story, it is indistinguishable from other stories of this vein.   When J.D. learns to let go to allow his mother to work out her own issues, J.D. hits the road and stays on the phone with Usha for the entire drive.   Why?   Probably to give Pinto something to do.   Hillbilly Elegy, even after the inexorable epilogue and photos of the real-life Vances pop up on the screen, never feels like a story that had to be told.   We are left with good performances in a movie which can't figure out what to do with them.