Ron Howard

‘Hillbilly Elegy’ Review: Episodic Melodrama Before It Finally Gets Better

The attacks on director Ron Howard’s Hillbilly Elegy from our country’s provincial and intolerant elites make little sense and only expose their own bigotries and close minds. The problem with the movie is not its politics — it’s hardly political, nor is there anything untoward about a sympathetic portrayal of America’s white working class. My problem with Hillbilly Elegy is solely a storytelling one.

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Establishment Media Elites Use ‘Hillbilly Elegy’ Movie to Attack J.D. Vance: ‘One of the Worst Movies of the Year’

This Thanksgiving, the biggest turkey seems to be Netflix’s “Hillbilly Elegy,” the recipient of nearly universal bad reviews. Critics have gutted the Ron Howard-directed movie, which began streaming today, for its lack of subtlety, formulaic screenplay, transparent awards grubbing, and oversimplification of the original bestselling memoir.

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