Ron Howard on 'Hillbilly Elegy' Critics: "Looking at Political Thematics" That Aren't Central to Story | THR News - video Dailymotion

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Despite its all-star pedigree, Ron Howard's 'Hillbilly Elegy,' starring Amy Adams and Glenn Close, has been criticized online since it debuted on Netflix last week.

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00:00I thought your mama was going to be alright. Be happy. I know I could have done better.

00:09Despite its all-star power, Ron Howard's Hillbilly Elegy has been criticized online

00:13since it debuted on Netflix last week. The movie, which stars Amy Adams and Glenn Close,

00:18has a mere 27% freshness rating on Rotten Tomatoes. While some critics like the Chicago

00:23Sun-Times' Richard Roper called the film a beautifully constructed, unforgiving,

00:27heart-tugging family epic, others were not so kind. Vox's Alyssa Wilkinson writes that the film

00:32is distractingly Hollywoodified, a rich person's idea of what it's like to be a poor person,

00:37a tone-deaf attempt to assuage a very particular kind of liberal guilt.

00:41And The Washington Post's Michael O'Sullivan criticized it for taking an apolitical approach,

00:45saying, the film eschews theories more prominent in the book that might help explain the opioid

00:50epidemic and the seemingly unbreakable cycle of poverty that defies simplistic solutions,

00:55yet might cause people to seek deliverance from a political outsider.

00:59The problem is that in doing so, the movie leaves us, like the main character's family,

01:03with only a mounting pile of baloney excuses for bad behavior. However, appearing on CBS

01:07This Morning on Tuesday, Howard defended his film, suggesting that those who are critical of the

01:12film might be taking aim at political issues.

01:14I do feel like they're looking at political thematics that they may or may not disagree with,

01:19that, honestly, are not really reflected or are not front and center in this story, adding,

01:24What I Saw Was a Family Drama That Could Be Very Relatable.

01:27The Ron Howard film is based on J.D. Vance's 2016 memoir about rising out of poverty in Middletown

01:33through detailing the opioid addiction of his mother, played by Adams in the film,

01:37his family history of domestic violence, and the impact of his strong-willed grandmother,

01:41played by Close in the film, in getting him to college.

01:44For more on this story, head to THR.com.

01:47For The Hollywood Reporter News, I'm Neha Joy.

Ron Howard on 'Hillbilly Elegy' Critics: "Looking at Political Thematics" That Aren't Central to Story | THR News

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