The terrible movie Ron Howard was forced to defend: “That was our aim and that was our effort”
Hands don’t come much safer, steadier, or more reliable than Ron Howard in Hollywood, but even a filmmaker famed for their consistency is prone to the odd misstep or two.
He’s got a pair of Academy Awards for ‘Best Director’ and ‘Best Picture’ in his back pocket, currently ranks as the tenth highest-grossing director in cinema history, and has managed to win acclaim and make serious bank at the box office in almost every genre under the sun.
Nobody would call Howard an auteur because there’s nothing particularly striking, distinctive, or recognisable about any of his work, not that it doesn’t make him bad at his job. While virtually all of the industry’s most successful directors have at least one trait, technique, or motif they carry from film to film, the Happy Days alum doesn’t have any of that, and it’s clear that he doesn’t need it to thrive, either.
Apollo 13, Splash, Backdraft, Rush, A Beautiful Mind, Cocoon, and Ransom were all big hits that couldn’t be more different from each other, so what Howard lacks in dynamism, he more than makes up for in versatility. Inevitably, some of his pictures have been truly dire affairs, but he wasn’t willing to take the criticism lying down when it came to the worst-reviewed picture in his back catalogue.
Nominated for ‘Worst Director’, ‘Worst Screenplay’, and ‘Worst Supporting Actress’ at the Razzies, Glenn Close achieved the rare feat of being celebrated by the best and worst awards season has to offer after her performance was inexplicably nominated for ‘Best Supporting Actress’ at the Academy Awards, Hillbilly Elegy sits at the bottom of the pile as the most widely-panned entry in Howard’s filmography.
Adapted from the memoir of the same name by JD Vance, the cloying and saccharine family drama was overly melodramatic, a transparent ploy to craft precision-engineered Oscar bait; the most vocal detractors of Hillbilly Elegy even accused it of being poverty porn. Howard disagreed, which is hardly a shock when he was the one who made it.
“What I saw was a family drama that could be very relatable,” he told This Morning. “Yes, culturally specific, and if you’re fascinated by that, I hope you find it interesting. If you’re from the region, I hope you find it authentic because certainly, that was our aim, and that was our effort. But I felt that it was a bridge to understanding that we’re more alike than we are different.”
History will always remember Hillbilly Elegy as an Oscar-nominated movie, and while it also stands a chance to be remembered for other reasons, given author Vance’s current position, it’ll take some dislodging for it to be usurped as the worst thing Howard has ever directed.
