Hillbilly Elegy slammed as 'laughably horrendous' by critics

Hillbilly Elegy.
(Image credit: Lacey Terrell/NETFLIX © 2020)

The reviews of Hillbilly Elegy are in, and critics are not holding back. The movie, based on J.D. Vance's 2016 memoir of the same name, generated headlines Tuesday including "Hillbilly Elegy is laughably horrendous in every way" and "Everything about Netflix's Hillbilly Elegy movie is awful."

The film follows J.D. Vance, a Yale Law student, as he returns to his Appalachian hometown where, in the words of Netflix, he "reflects on three generations of family history and his own future." Amy Adams plays Vance's mother, and Glenn Close plays his grandmother.

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Jeva Lange

Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.