The Glass Castle - Liked It - DoubleFeaturePreachers

The Glass Castle - Liked It

8/10/2017

Starring: Brie Larson, Woody Harrelson, Naomi Watts
Director: Destin Daniel Cretton
Runtime: 2 hour, 7 minutes
Biography | Drama | Book-to-Film | 2017

I used to read books all the time, before I got into this whole movie review thing, and The Glass Castle was one of my favorites that I’ve read. In the memoir, Jeannette Walls (played by Brie Larson) recounts her childhood, a time of struggle. Her parents Rex (Woody Harrelson) and Rose Mary (Naomi Watts) were loving parents, but weren’t the best at taking care of their children. The film shows Jeannette from a young girl cooking herself dinner to about 10 when she realizes they have to take care of themselves to a teenager ready to flee to the big city and get far away from them.

I was extremely excited when I saw they were going to adapt this book. First, it was going to be Jennifer Lawrence cast as Jeannette, which would have been great too I’m sure. Overall, I feel like they followed what Jeannette wrote in her memoir fairly closely. There were some parts that were just kind of grazed over, but for a film that is already 2 hour and 7 minutes long, I’m okay with that. The film was set up with Jeannette as an adult remembering certain times in her life, so flashbacks are recurring.

I thought that Brie Larson did an amazing job, per usual. Though she probably got as much screen time as Young Jeannette (Ella Anderson). The emotions stuck with the character (and the two actresses) regardless of the story being the past and present. Another star is Woody Harrelson. His role as Rex was great and I feel like he stepped into the characters shoes perfectly. It’s not the first time he’s played a drunk i.e. The Hunger Games. Regardless of this though, it’s obvious that he loves his children, just makes bad judgement calls on a daily basis.

Max Greenfield (New Girl) played Jeannette’s fiance, and I just didn’t feel like he fit into that role well. He did however allow for some scenes to become comedic and the whole theater was laughing.

The film made me feel just the same as the book did. Pissed off at the parents for being irresponsible for their four children, yet happy that those children still had a fun time in life (for the most part). It was full of bad moments and good moments, as every life is. This story just has the two as extremes I think.

Because I felt like it was a perfect adaptation of the book and Brie Larson and Woody Harrelson were phenomenal, I’m going to say “Liked It.” It was a bit boring at times, as most movies like this are for me, and some scenes were dragged out for emotional effect. However, it was still a great movie that I would recommend. Perhaps more award nominations are in the future for Woody and Brie. Here’s hoping. I also enjoyed the end credits, with true pictures of the Walls family and true video footage. (4/5)