Alissa Wilkinson wrote in “Vox” that the film was “possibly the worst movie” she had seen in years.
On Tuesday morning, the review embargo for Ron Howard’s latest film Hillbilly Elegy lifted. Folks critiqued the film, an adaptation of J.D. Vance’s 2016 novel of the same name, and the verdict is in: people didn’t like it. Rotten Tomatoes states that the film garnered a 21 percent approval rating. The film follows Yale Law student J.D. Vance back to his Appalachian hometown, where he reflects on his family’s history and his own future. Though Hillbilly Elegy boasts Glenn Close and Amy Adams in roles that could possibly (and finally) win them Oscars, the film did not impress critics. David Ehlrich of IndieWire wrote: “It will stir no controversy, enflame the minimum number of thinkpieces demanded by the moment (most of which will focus on the value of such a blandly “purple” movie at the height of our red/blue divide), and earn a party favor’s worth of awards for its cast. Some will feel seen, others will feel excused from looking closer, and most will feel nothing.” Ultimately, he gave the film a C-. “For all of the favors that Howard does to the subject of his biopic, the director can only do so much to disguise the self-serving nature of a story that was always less about where Vance came from than it was about where he wanted to go,” Ehrlich concluded.
