Reed Hackett – Google

Despite the A-list cast, this is Costner's movie. Tommy Lee has no opportunity to exhibit his usual scene stealing bravado, Gadot is mainly there to be beautiful, terrified and baffled, the great Oldman mainly rages and practices his dead-on American accent. The premise (or premises) are worthy of development, the action is satisfactory, the tension strong, the London backdrop crucial, but the overall exposition is disappointing. It is difficult to identify where the narrative breaks down. Only Cosner's tortured persona saves the day. It is his movie.

The huge 60 point gap between critical and audience reviews of Hillbilly Elegy are telling. Yes it is melodramatic, and the performances are histrionic and broad, but perhaps movie critics, with their English degrees and grounding in auteur conceptions and deconstructionism don't know anyone like these characters. But there are millions of broken, hopeless persons just like them, scattered throughout the hollers and rusting factory towns of America, and sometimes in our own extended families.