Anytime the wife and I stay up on a Friday night until 3am binge-watching an entire series, you KNOW you've got our attention. I was thinking this was going to be a "chick-flick" but I couldn't have been more wrong.
A very clever murder mystery that manages to not even tell you who got KILLED until the final 15 minutes of its 6 hour running time, BIG LITTLE LIES is a great story, well told.
Reese Witherspoon is Madeline, a wealthy involved Mom who appears to have the perfect life in Malibu.
Nicole Kidman is her friend Celeste, with two flawless blonde twins and the perfect wealthy husband Perry (Alexander Skarsgard).
Shalene Woodley is Jane, a new Mom in town with her little boy, running from her former life and nowhere in the same economic stratosphere as the other women.
Laura Dern has her best role in years as the meddling Renata, always taking a stand against the other women.
Adam Scott (Parks and Recreation) is excellent as Madeline's quiet, web developer husband as is Zoe Kravitz (Mad Max Fury Road) as Madeline's ex's new young, bohemian wife.
All of these perfect lives are far from it.
Everyone has secrets, many of which are violent, brutal truths that wouldn't fit with the perfect beach side homes.
David E. Kelley (Boston Legal) adapted every minute of the series from Liane Moriarty's bestseller and he shows the same humor, shocking drama and violence he's brought to his landmark shows.
Since it's HBO, there is no filter on the sexuality, nudity and profanity the characters often unleash behind closed doors.
Witherspoon is terrific and so is Woodley, but Nicole Kidman is amazing. She is fearless in portraying a woman whose world is coming undone and in allowing the camera to see her frankly naked, both physically and emotionally. Kidman deserves every award she'll get for her performance.
Director Jean-Marc Vallee (Dallas Buyers Club, Wild) stylizes the entire look of the film to capture the beauty of Carmel and the horror of some of these lives.
Terrific music choices throughout that are cleverly woven into the story.
We couldn't take our eyes off of it for six straight hours. It's bold, sexual, adult, brutal, smart and suspenseful as you try to decipher who killed who and exactly how these characters will survive the dark side of their transparently flawless lives.
BIG LITTLE LIES is a huge triumph and gets an A.
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