'The Glass Castle Review: Received mixed reviews, but worth the watch for the acting alone: Brie Larson, Harrelson and Naomi Watts!

🌟 The Glass Castle 🌟 Review 🌟 8/10 🌟

The new drama adapted from the 2005 memoir (of the same name) by Jeannette Walls, based on her experiences growing up in a poor dysfunctional family. The film was directed by Destin Daniel Cretton (who also helmed the 2013 critical darling 'SHORT TERM 12'). The movie stars Brie Larson (Room), Woody Harrelson, Naomi Watts, Ella Anderson, Chandler Head and Max Greenfield. The film has received mixed reviews from critics, most of the negative reviews are from those who read the memoir (where as I haven't), they all emphasise how it missed key truths from the story, which I don't know, anyway I digress. I found it to be a little too long, and slow-paced, but it's mostly a good film that will break your heart.

The story is told from Jeannette's (Larson) point of view, as an adult, as she recollects on growing up as a child in extreme poverty. Her mother, Rose Mary (Watts), was an eccentric artist, and her father, Rex (Harrelson), was a free-spirited, violent, and messed up alcoholic. Jeannette, and her three siblings, were constantly forced to move, and often times they didn't have enough to eat (because whatever they did have there parents spent it on themselves), or ideally safe conditions to live in. The whole time Rex filled the children's heads with unrealistic hopes and dreams and empty promises of a better life.

The movie is filled with one heartbreaking scene after another, I welled up multiple times throughout the entire film. Larson plays the central character in it (as an adult), but Harrelson actually has far more screen time; and he's the real star of the movie (in my opinion) as well. As flawed a character as he is, Harrelson's character is also (in some ways) the most relatable, due to his dreams and general positive outlook on life. The film has many great moments in it too, but it seems to lose it's way at times, and it's sometimes a pain to sit through (due to it's pacing) but for the acting alone it's worth it.