My Review of "Hillbilly Elergy"

Hillbilly Elergy is a pretty intense movie that jumps timelines but still works. the timing of my viewing was kind of weird because I had just recently watched the movie "Honey Boy" on Prime. The similarities between the two movies were quite astounding.

This movie starts off with a man named J.D. trying to survive in law school. He has a lovely girlfriend and everything seems to be going alright for him. That is until we start to see some cracks in his situation. His finances are starting to dwindle despite the fact that he's working 3 jobs and has financial aid to help him pay for school.

In order to survive he desperately needs to get an internship with a big law firm. Fortunately for J.D. he's been invited to a networking dinner where he has a chance to meet with some firm partners. This is when we start going into some flashbacks as if they're some sort of post traumatic distressful situations.

The flashbacks explore his family's past. At times these flashbacks even stem 2 generations. His flashbacks mainly concern his mother and his grandmother who he refers to as Mamaw.

J.D.'s family comes from poverty and abuse. His mother has some sort of bi-polar disorder and his grandparents have dark seeded problems as well. As the movie unfolds we see what J.D and his mother had to deal with in their past.

As we learn more and more about their family we learn why they are the way they are. The story sounds like something familiar that many people around the world go through. I started to see why poverty and mental illnesses can be a cyclical issue that spans from generation to generation. It made me question whether mental illness is innate or a learned process. Perhaps it's a combination of the two.

There are a number of powerful messages that stem from this story though. The importance of self worth and working towards achieving this goal is easier said than done. We also learn about the human nature of understanding our human worth. They expand on family obligations to help fellow family members despite the crazy predicaments that they get themselves into. They also explore the very dicey subject of how much we should be helping our family members. Sometimes we have to take care of ourselves to take care of others.

All in all it started feeling very much the same as the movie Honey Boy. I liked that movie too. The two movies are autobiographies of troubled males. They both experienced child abuse when they were young and both threatened to continue the cycle of their parents. The beginning, middle and end were pretty much identical with one another. I couldn't believe how close these movies were with one another. These two movies are even exclusive titles for each of their respective streaming networks. So if you happen to be Netflix subscriber then you'll pretty much know what the hype for Honey Boy is all about and vice versa for Prime subscribers. If you happen to have both subscriptions then you're in luck if you like this type of movie.

Overall, I enjoyed this movie for what it is. There is a lot to like about this movie. The only thing is that it felt all too familiar since I only recently watched Honey Boy. It almost felt like a paint by numbers remake of the same movie. That's not entirely a bad thing because it was still well made. I have to give this movie a 7.5 out of 10. I think if you're looking for a movie about family drama or if you really liked Honey Boy you need to check this movie out. This is definitely not for everyone. There are a number of very uncomfortable situations that not everyone can get into.