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Lets get one thing out of the way, right off the bat:Hillbilly Elegyis awful.
Ron Howards Netflix-produced adaptation of J.D.
But heres the thing: Ron Howard is no hack.
And on some level, its not thathard a theoryto wrap your arms around.
He represents a kind of vanilla baseline.
And so criticism of the storyandHowards decision to adapt it iswell deserved.
Yet the existence of this lackluster movie is hardly proof of Howards supposed lifelong hackery.
Arraign him for opting to bring to life a memoir that caricatures the very people its purportedly exalting.
But condemn his entire body of work as trifle?
But Howard rather brilliantly turned those expectations inside out.
What resulted is a funny picture, but not one that chases laughs.
Howard knows how to execute a punchline without itfeelinglike a punchline.
And then theres the definitive Michael Keaton performance (not to mention the definitiveMichael Keatonlosing-it-on-the-telephone scene).
(Thats the same near-impossible feat thatAll the Presidents Menpulls off so well.)
Sustaining that tension without losing sight of the human drama that propels the story takes an extraordinary filmmaker.
(Have you watched a recentRob ReinerorLawrence Kasdanmovie?
He didnt whip the camera around or punch you in the face with his edits.
He didnt show off with long, unbroken takes or jaw-dropping special effects.
Howard was never trying to be another Kubrick or Malick.
He was trying to be another William Wyler or Howard Hawks.
And to a degree, Howard continues that tradition.
How many legitimately, indisputably, stand-the-test-of-timegreatmovies has Denis Villeneuve directed?
Or (god help us) Zack Snyder?
And keep Ron Howards career out of it.
