Hillbilly Elegy (film)

The film opens in Jackson, Kentucky, in 1997. J.D. is looking back to this time, his teenage years. He is visiting his family with his grandparents and Mom, Bev. They go back home to Ohio.

Fourteen years later, J.D. is attending Yale and working three jobs. He is dating a young woman, Usha. She has a summer internship in Washington D.C. and J.D. hopes to get one there as well. He attends an event to network in hopes of landing the internship. He gets a call from his sister, Lindsay because his mom is in the hospital after overdosing on heroin. Lindsay is overwhelmed by the situation as she works and has three children. She asks J.D. to come home, which he feels conflicted about as it is interview week at Yale.

He remembers growing up and conflicts he had with his mom, who is mentally and emotionally unstable. He was a fan of Joe Montana and collected his cards. As they are driving, his mom tells him she wants to move them in with her boyfriend. Bev starts driving like she wants to get in a wreck and then beats J.D. He runs out of the car to a house and calls the police who come and arrest Bev.

Back in 2011 J.D. starts to drive to Ohio. In 1997 his grandparents come to pick him up as J.D. lies to the police about his mom hitting him and they let her go. In 2011 he arrives at the hospital as his mom is yelling at the nurse. She will be discharged because she has no health insurance. J.D. is called and offered an interview for the following morning.

In 1997 his grandfather dies and the family has a funeral. Bev works as a nurse and steals drugs. She gets high, acts erratic, gets fired and later breaks down over her father's death. In 2011, J.D. and Lindsey find Bev a bed at a drug rehabilitation facility and J.D. remembers how it's never worked for her in the past. J.D. pays for her rehab but Bev ultimately refuses to be admitted.

In 1997 J.D., Lindsey, and Bev move into her boss's and new husband, Ken's house. Bev won't quit taking drugs. J.D.'s grandmother falls and is hospitalized with pneumonia. He starts vandalizing and acting out with his new step-brother, Travis and his friends. They wreck a car. In 2011 Bev's boyfriend throws her stuff out of his apartment. In 1997 J.D.'s grandmother takes him to live with her and helps him to avoid trouble and succeed in school.

He grows up, joins the Marines, goes home when his grandmother dies, and uses the G.I. Bill to go to college. In 2011 J.D. gets his mom a motel room and some food and drives back to Yale for his interview.

• Amy Adams as Beverly "Bev" Vance, J. D.'s mother and Mamaw's daughter.
  • Tierney Smith as young Bev
• Glenn Close as Bonnie "Mamaw" Vance, J. D.'s grandmother and Bev's mother.
  • Sunny Mabrey as young Bonnie
• Gabriel Basso as J. D. Vance, Bev's son and Mamaw's grandson.
  • Owen Asztalos as young J. D.
• Haley Bennett as Lindsay Vance, J. D.'s sister, Mamaw's granddaughter and Bev's daughter.
• Freida Pinto as Usha
• Bo Hopkins as Papaw Vance

Imagine Entertainment won the rights to the memoir in an April 2017 auction, for Ron Howard to direct.[8] In February 2018, Vanessa Taylor was set to adapt the novel into a screenplay.[9] In March 2018, Ron Howard was spotted at the Buckingham Coal Mine near Corning, Ohio, scouting possible locations in Perry County.[10] In October 2018 and March 2019, Howard was spotted in Middletown, Ohio, again scouting filming locations.[11][12]

In January 2019, Netflix won the rights to the film after bidding $45 million on the project.[13] Glenn Close, Amy Adams, Gabriel Basso and Haley Bennett joined the cast in April.[14][15][16][17] In June 2019, Freida Pinto, Bo Hopkins and Owen Asztalos were also added.[18]

Principal photography began on June 12, 2019 in Atlanta, Georgia,[19] and wrapped on August 8, 2019 in Middletown, Ohio, after a 43-day shooting schedule. Several days of filming took place in the book's setting of Middletown, Ohio,[20] though much of the filming was done in Atlanta, Clayton, and Macon, Georgia, using the production code-name "IVAN."[21][22] Hans Zimmer and David Fleming composed the film's music.[23]

By January 2020, the film was in post-production.[24]

Hillbilly Elegy began a limited theatrical release in the United States on November 11, 2020, before streaming on Netflix starting November 24.[25]

It was the most-watched film on the site in its first day of release, before finishing third in its debut weekend.[26] Over its second weekend the film fell to eighth place.[27]

Critical response to Hillbilly Elegy was "fairly negative", but the performances of its cast received some praise.[5][28] On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, 26% of 240 critics gave the film a positive review, with an average rating of 4.60/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "With the form of an awards-season hopeful but the soul of a bland melodrama, Hillbilly Elegy strands some very fine actors in the not-so-deep South."[29] According to Metacritic, which calculated a weighted average score of 38 out of 100 based on 43 critics, the film received "generally unfavorable reviews".[30]

The Independent reported that the film was widely criticized for "perpetuating stereotypes about the poor".[31] Katie Rife of the The A.V. Club called it a "bootstrapping poverty porn" and said that it "reinforces the stereotypes it's meant to be illuminating."[32]

Owen Gleiberman of Variety wrote, "As long as Close is acting up an award-worthy storm (her performance is actually quite meticulous), Hillbilly Elegy is never less than alive. Amy Adams does some showpiece acting of her own, but as skillful as her performance is, she never gets us to look at Bev with pity and terror."[33] Writing for IndieWire, David Ehrlich gave the film a "C–" and said, "Hillbilly Elegy hinges on Mamaw's hope that she'll leave her family better off than she found them, and it's clear that Vance's story has fulfilled that wish almost as soon as this movie starts. But the process of watching him cut his losses and recommit to his own success is rendered in a way that it isn't just dramatically unsatisfying in the extreme, but also on the verge of sociopathic."[34]

Peter Travers from Good Morning America thought the film was a "missed opportunity" but Close's performance was "sensational". He concluded, "With greater emphasis on simplicity instead of Hollywood showboating, Hillbilly Elegy might have been more than a missed opportunity."[35] In her positive review, Sandra Hall from The Sydney Morning Herald praised Howard's "high-end brand of commercial movie-making" and opined that he's "to be applauded just for inviting Close, with her wealth of imagination and technique, to give us everything she has."[36] Richard Roeper from the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film a perfect 4 out of 4 star rating, praising Adams' and Close's "exceptional work", describing Adams as a "tour de force" and Close as "masterful, screen-commanding, pitch-perfect."[37]

Rahul Desai of Film Companion wrote, "The film is shameless Oscar-bait. But as with most recent Ron Howard movies, he has a way of making bad movies feel good."[38]

• Hillbilly Elegy on Netflix
• Hillbilly Elegy at IMDb
• Hillbilly Elegy at Rotten Tomatoes