First, this film is apparently based on a true story, so it makes no sense to criticize the message. Life is messy. Please do not take my review as an appeal to make all films tidy and redemptive.

That said, not all true stories are worth committing to film and being held up as examples of family commitment and unconditional love. I found the "heart" of this film to be twisted and dark, and the message to be potentially harmful to people with truly abusive and heartbreaking family circumstances.

Woody Harrelson plays an abusive drunk who terrorizes and mercilessly deprives his own children. He also meticulously manipulates his co-dependent wife to enable his dysfunctions and remain cooperative with every sick development, including the sexual molestation of their son by his own grandmother. This is supposed to be "balanced" by the fact that he is a dreamer who is occasionally nice. Heck, he even coughed up some tuition money. Once. After stealing money from the same kid earlier. What a great dad.

As the kids mature and literally escape into independence as adults, the mentally deranged parents follow them all the way to New York City and continue to sabotage their happiness. When a family member attempts to draw boundaries in order to establish some sanity and peace, they all conspire to leverage one another back into the nightmare with guilt trips.

The central character, one of the daughters, actually manages to put together a relatively sane life (one in which she copes with her background by lying to others about it), but is repeatedly told by the father that she is not really happy and craves his brand of freedom and "adventure". "Down is up, left is right," says the sociopath.

The nice, happy part of the movie is when the dad finally dies, making it easier for the remaining family to gloss over and romanticize the brutal treatment they received as the children and wife of a lazy, booze-addled abuser.

I gave it an 8 out of 10 because it is well acted, convincing, and impeccably made. I just find it to be utterly aimless and warped as a work of storytelling, and it eludes me what people find charming or heartwarming about it.

Jeannette Walls (Brie Larson) and David (Max Greenfield) are a yuppie couple in 80's NYC. She is horrified to see her parents dumpster diving. The movie tells the story of her growing up with her troubled parents (Woody Harrelson, Naomi Watts) and her three siblings in a volatile nomadic lifestyle.

I didn't read the Jeannette's autobiographical novel. I think I've seen another movie with a similar premise but I don't remember what it's called. Some of this seem familiar without knowing where the story is headed. At first, the childhood story overshadows the future story. Woody is doing some great work. One can see both the love and the fear from young Jeannette. I wasn't sold on older Jeannette until Brie turns up the volume during the arm wrestling scene. She fully rises up to Woody's level. It's great dueling performances. It does need to find a way to wrap up the story. The third act meanders but I give it some leeway as real life. It's hard to manufacture a climax. I'd probably tighten the ending. The movie runs on too long anyways. I love the two performances and like her clashing feelings about her parents. Family are complicated.

"The Glass Castle" is an American English-language film from this year (2017) directed by Hawaiian filmmaker Destin Daniel Cretton and he also adapted the novel for the screen here. It's not the first time he worked with Oscar winner Brie Larson, who plays the central character here. And she proves once more without a doubt that she is among the very finest from her age group in Hollywood now. But still, this is without a doubt Woody Harrelson's film here and the only thing in doubt is if he should win the Oscar for supporting or lead. His character is somewhat similar to Viggo Mortensen's Captain Fantastic and also he has as much of an impact as Arquette in Boyhood and if these two were getting such a great deal of recognition, then so should he as it was simply an amazing portrayal here.

Let me add that I have not read the novel, so my review is entirely based on the film and I cannot comment on parallels and differences compared to the book. But I can say that the book must be amazing to be as good as these slightly over 2 hours we have here. The film is by far the best of 2017 by now and that means especially something as I have seen a lot from this year already and I cannot agree with the mixed reception at all. It is close to a masterpiece. The actors are all good, even the dude from New Girl is tolerable this time. Harrelson is the great standout though and I see he has 2 films in the race this year and it is really high time he gets his Oscar. Very overdue. As for the film itself, it may not be a dominant player this awards season if I see the reception and also because people will say it is the specific story of one family, but irrelevant in the grand picture. This may be true, the first part, but I think they could not be any more wrong about the second. There's important subjects like coming-of-age, alcoholism, father-daughter relationships, husband-wife relationships, sexual abuse, criminal negligence and many others in here and yet the film never feels rushed or for the sake of it, but more like an in-depth examination of these issues that is always satisfying.

Everybody will think something else about the subplots and it will depend on your history how much you will connect with each of these. But I think that there is something in here for everybody and even as a neutral observer, it will be tough not to appreciate the film. This is also due to the great attention to detail. Just one example from near the end: The moment the central character stands still before entering her dad's room one last time because she does(n't) know what expects her at the other side of the door. Harrelson raises the bar to a spectacular level for future performances of loving dads whose approach to life and whose own demons keep them from being the parent their children need them to be. This film's raw authenticity, the characters' imperfection as well as many heartbreaking moments turn this onto one of the very best films of the 2010s. Don't trust the critics talking down on it. This is my Best Picture winner of 2017 at this point and you really need to see it because it is so good and you have a lot more to gain than to lose here. Chances are almost zero you will hate it, but they are good that you will totally love it. So much heart in here and it never drags despite comfortably crossing the 2-hour mark. Go get that Oscar Woody.