Heft of A-listers in black comedy

ANYONE who is dreading extended family reunions next week during the Lunar New Year period might want to steer clear of August: Osage County. Adapted by Tracy Letts from his 2007 Pulitzer Prize-winning stage play of the same name, the all-star black comedy revolves around a messed-up family and the eventual collapse when they all arrive for the funeral of the patriarch.

An on-fire Meryl Streep leads the ensemble cast playing the widow, Violet. She's suffering from mouth cancer but that can also be a metaphor for the verbal venom she spits at those around her. Not everyone takes it lying down like her youngest daughter Ivy (Julianne Nicholson); her eldest, Barbara (Julia Roberts) has an equally violent temper to match her mother's.

Things get messier at the funeral when middle daughter Karen (Juliette Lewis) arrives with her sleazy fiance Steve (Dermot Mulroney), who tries to get fresh with Babara's rebellous teenage daughter Jean (Abigail Breslin).