A cast like Reese Witherspoon, Laura Dern, Nicole Kidman and Shailene Woodley, directed entirely by Jean-Marc Vallée (“Dallas Buyers Club,” “Wild,” “Demolition“), might make you think they’re all gearing up some kind of Oscar prestige picture. But it like it goes with so many projects these days, “Big Little Lies” is one you’ll be watching on the small screen, and it looks like it’s going to be quite the treat this winter.
The seven-episode HBO limited series is based on the novel by Liane Moriarty and follows a group of women in Monterey, California, the intersecting lives, and one dead body. Here’s the official synopsis:
A murder…A tragic accident…Or just parents behaving badly? What’s indisputable is that someone is dead.
Madeline is a force to be reckoned with. She’s funny, biting, and passionate; she remembers everything and forgives no one. Celeste is the kind of beautiful woman who makes the world stop and stare but she is paying a price for the illusion of perfection. New to town, single mom Jane is so young that another mother mistakes her for a nanny. She comes with a mysterious past and a sadness beyond her years. These three women are at different crossroads, but they will all wind up in the same shocking place.
Big Little Lies is a brilliant take on ex-husbands and second wives, mothers and daughters, schoolyard scandal, and the dangerous little lies we tell ourselves just to survive.
Reese Witherspoon could’ve easily been the Meryl Streep of her generation if she didn’t choose to star in so many crappy romcoms.