The Glass Castle

photo courtesy of teaser-trailer.com

SPOILER-FREE REVIEW

     

     The Glass Castle adapts the memoir of Jeanette Walls, an author and journalist. It relates the story of Walls’ early family life—in which she and her siblings endured poverty, shifting settings, and an alcoholic father—and her attempts to distance herself from her parents in later life. Though it’s not perfect, The Glass Castle is a solid drama, juxtaposing heartwarming highs with devastating lows.

     This is a movie dominated by story, which is perhaps unsurprising for an autobiographical, introspective feature. And the story is worthwhile: Walls’ life is a wandering journey full of moments both fascinating and intimate. One particularly brilliant scene, for instance, centers on an arm wrestle, of all things. Among the rollicking road trips and life lessons that populate most of the movie’s runtime, Glass Castle tackles difficult themes, looking at them with unmistakable honesty.

photo courtesy of ew.com

     Honesty is maybe the film’s greatest strength. The movie’s gaze is unflinching, refusing to shy away from either the bad things, without which the movie would be an idealized, sentimental fantasy, or the good things, without which the relationships between family members might be too easily reduced to their basest elements. Most critically, it deals frankly with forgiveness. Forgiveness in movies can often be trite, but Glass Castle acknowledges the cost and work that goes into forgiving—even if its depiction doesn’t entirely avoid fanciful flights, either.

     The film benefits from a star-studded cast. Brie Larson (Room, the upcoming Captain Marvel), plays Walls, Woody Harrelson plays her father Rex, and Naomi Watts plays her mother, Rose Mary. Larson has distinguished herself in recent roles, and she continues that streak with an excellent performance here.

photo courtesy of ew.com

     But the movie runs into some trouble here and there. The script veers into cheesy territory and indulges in on-the-nose dialogue. The biggest problem is a tonal one. As mentioned above, the movie maintains a balancing act, trying to keep the best and worst of Walls’ memories side by side. But at some point, the scales come unbalanced, and the movie goes too far to one side to wholly pull off the conclusion it’s working toward. It’s hard to go into too many details without spoiling major plot points, but suffice it to say that the movie doesn’t quite stick the landing.

    FINAL VERDICT: The Glass Castle is a thoughtful and forthright look into Walls’ unique experience.

photo courtesy of ew.com