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‘The Glass Castle’
(Lionsgate Films)
By Lucas Allen
Once in a blue moon, a new generation will have its own “Terms of Endearment” or “Beaches” as a balance to the summer’s action-packed entertainment. This year’s entry is “The Glass Castle,” which is based on Jeanette Walls’ best-selling memoir about her experience with her family through many highs and lows. If you ever want to see a movie that puts you through an emotional roller coaster that’s powered through an electrical generator, then this is the movie for you.
Jeanette (Brie Larson) is living a life of luxury in the Big Apple with her fiancé, David (Max Greenfield), while working as a columnist for New York Magazine. However, she has yet to introduce him to her parents, alcoholic Rex (Woody Harrelson) and carefree artist Rose Mary (Naomi Watts), who are living in a rundown building. Things are made more difficult for her by the fact that her father is bitter that she’s moving on with her own life and not following his hopes and dreams.
We then flash back to when the Walls clan, including her brother Brian and her sisters Maureen and Lori, traversing from one home to another around the country. Rex envisions a “glass castle” that will house the whole family and get away from all the troubles they’ve encountered. But as the years go on, Rex’s drunken temper threatens to tear the family apart.
The story itself moves at its own steady pace, peaking at each emotional moment. It’s like running through different mountainous summits that represent different emotions, with the bottom full of sadness and the top full of humor. But for much of the movie, it seems to be stuck on the bottom on a continuous tailspin. So if you’re willing to see this movie, be prepared for teary eyes and runny noses.
The movie does feel too long at times as it drags each and every emotional moment to the end. Despite all that, it still does a nice job telling the story of how this kooky family manages to persevere through all the hardships. Whether or not you agree with the parents is another matter altogether, but it’s fine all the same. Also, the scenery is so great and well-shot, that it’s easy to forgive some of the movie’s misgivings.
It’s also wonderfully acted, with the main characters working as hard as possible to deliver their performances. Larson is very strong as a loving and beautiful woman stuck at a crossroads between what she had in the past and what she wants in the future. Although his character is unbearably unlikable at times, Harrelson is still the movie’s tour-de-force in the best use of the term. It’s kind of odd to see Watts and Larson the two leading ladies from two different King Kong movies playing mother and daughter, but Watts is still genuine in her performance.
“The Glass Castle” can easily be labeled as “misery porn” because it is, but it has good intentions to tell a good true story no matter how serious or hilarious it is told. It does appeal to a certain age group who wanted something different in theaters and they’ll be happy with what they got. But be forewarned, bring some tissues.
THE MOVIE’S RATING: PG-13 (for mature thematic content involving family dysfunction, and for some language and smoking)
THE CRITIC’S RATING: 2.75 Stars (Out of Four)
