THE GLASS CASTLE – Rated PG-13 – 2 hrs. 7 mins. 

THE GLASS CASTLE – Rated PG-13 – 2 hrs. 7 mins. 

Starring Brie Larson, Woody Harrelson, Naomi Watts and Max Greenfield

Based on the memoir by Jeanette Walls and Directed by Destin Daniel Cretton, we meet the Walls family – Dad Rex (Woody Harrelson), Mom Rose Mary (Naomi Watts) daughters Lori (Sadie Sink/Sarah Snook), Jeanette (Ella Anderson / Brie Larson), Maureen (Shree Crooks /Brigette Lundy-Paine) and son Brian ( Charlie Shotwell / Josh Caras) going through their lives very unconventionally – living on pipe dreams, artistry and the occasional paycheck from many short-term employment opportunities.

Rex and Rose Mary seem rather content to always be living their lives in squalor, but Jeanette and her siblings are finding it harder and harder to except their lives, in the shambles that it is. So Jeanette decides to takes the reins for them all to end this madness – but soon finds herself being sucked into the same pipe dream as her father…with his newly designed Glass Castle, that he is determined to build for them all…someday…

When things start to turn from bad to worse due to many issues with family, alcoholism and lack of cash, Jeanette and Lori decide its time to get themselves out, heading off to college as soon as they can save enough money to be able to survive…

As the years pass, and everyone seems to have somehow found their way, it seems that Rex and Mary Ann still have a significant hold on ALL their children, and their ultimate happiness…even though they have all moved on from the darkness of their childhoods, or so they thought…

I give THE GLASS CASTLE a rating of MUST SEE ON THE BIG SCREEN! Having not read the book before viewing the film, I was intensely moved one minute, and utterly depressed the next, viewing this very sad, true-life story. Larson is absolute perfection as the strongest, yet most devoted child, Jeanette. Harrelson is exceptional too as the warped and delusional patriarch of his family, Rex. This character may have made way for Harrelson to receive a few nominations come awards season, as his performance is extraordinary from start to finish. Watts also gives a very moving performance as the one-minute caring, one-minute self-consumed mother Rose Mary. And the many young actors who play these children through different stages of their lives are all exceptional as well, as they give very impressionable performances with the dysfunctional material they are asked to portray. All in all, THE GLASS CASTLE was a very moving, very memorable, and at times, very depressing film. Plus, knowing this is a real-life story, makes this film even more heart wrenching than if it was fiction.  You will truly find yourself becoming despondent from all the psychosis you are experiencing on the big screen…but you will also find yourself not wanting to miss a minute of it….

Kathy Kaiser

P.S.  Both of my girlfriends who had the opportunity to read the book stated that this film “sugar coats” a lot of the scenes depicted in the book itself, making it less disturbing than they actually felt while reading this particular true-life story unfold…kk