Should ‘August: Osage County’ be in the Golden Globes comedy category for best picture?

August: Osage County opens today, and was recently placed in the Golden Globes Best Motion Picture category. This was not very shocking to film critics and audiences alike.

What is more surprising is that this category is specifically for comedies or musicals. The stunning film has a storyline ripe with harsh realities. Family and inner conflicts range from disease of the body and literal dis-ease of the mind. Powerful performances come from Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, Ewan McGregor, Chris Cooper, Abigail Breslin, Benedict Cumberbatch and Juliette Lewis. Even though there are moments of laughter, when it dies down the story at its crux is still quite brutal. Seems that is why there is a whole genre called "dark comedies."

Tracey Letts' August: Osage County started as a play, debuting on Broadway and at the Steppenwolf Theatre back in 2007. The following year it received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. (Emphasis on the drama.) The play opened in the UK that year as well and began touring the U.S. in 2009. Letts is a playwright and actor, from Oklahoma where the story is set.

Whether or not you take issue with the labels on film categories during awards season, many will agree that Meryl Streep pretty much wins acting. In general. (Now there's a joke, with some seriousness.) Meryl Streep has been nominated 17 times for an Academy Award (won three of them). She's gotten nominated for the Golden Globe 28 times, won eight of those times, and we'll have to see if she's take the Globe again for Best Actress. 

If you see the most recent trailer featuring quips and lighthearted music, be forewarned: it's not all a barrel of laughs. But you will walk away feeling like you have in fact seen one of the best films of the year.

Have you seen the movie? How would you categorize it?