The Glass Castle (film)

The Glass Castle is a 2017 American biographical drama film directed by Destin Daniel Cretton and written by Cretton, Andrew Lanham, and Marti Noxon, based on Jeannette Walls' 2005 best selling memoir of the same name. Depicting Walls' real-life childhood spent squatting in homes and living in poverty, the film stars Brie Larson as Walls with Naomi Watts, Woody Harrelson, Max Greenfield, and Sarah Snook in supporting roles.

The Glass Castle was released on August 11, 2017, by Lionsgate and received mixed reviews from critics, who praised the performances of its cast (particularly Larson and Harrelson) but criticized the mishandled tones and adaptation. The film grossed $21.8 million at the box office.

Plot summary
The unconventional, poverty-stricken upbringing Walls and her siblings had at the hands of their deeply dysfunctional parents.

Cast

 * Brie Larson as Jeannette Walls, the second daughter of Rex and Rose Mary Walls' four children
 * Ella Anderson as Jeannette Walls (age 11)
 * Chandler Head as Jeannette Walls (age 8)
 * Naomi Watts as Rose Mary Walls, Rex's wife and eccentric mother of their four children.
 * Woody Harrelson as Rex Walls, Rose Mary's husband and alcoholic father to their four children
 * Sarah Snook as Lori Walls, the oldest daughter of Rex and Rose Mary Walls' four children
 * Olivia Kate Rice as Lori Walls (age 10)
 * Sadie Sink as Lori Walls (age 13)
 * Josh Caras as Brian Walls, the only son amongst Rex and Rose Mary Walls four children
 * Iain Armitage as Brian Walls (age 6)
 * Charlie Shotwell as Brian Walls (age 9)
 * Brigette Lundy-Paine as Maureen Walls, Rex and Rose Mary Walls youngest child
 * Charlie and Noemie Guyon as Baby Maureen Walls
 * Eden Grace Redfield as three-year-old Maureen Walls
 * Shree Crooks as Young Maureen Walls
 * Max Greenfield as David, Jeanette's fiancé
 * Dominic Bogart as Robbie
 * Joe Pingue as Uncle Stanley

Production
In April 2012, it was revealed that Lionsgate acquired the rights to the book and Jennifer Lawrence was in talks to star in the film. In October 2013, it was revealed that Destin Daniel Cretton was in talks to direct the film and re-write the screenplay with Andrew Lanham from a previous draft by Marti Noxon. In October 2015, Brie Larson joined the cast of the film, replacing Lawrence who exited the film after a male lead couldn't be found. In November 2015, Woody Harrelson joined the cast of the film. In March 2016, Naomi Watts joined the cast. In April 2016, Max Greenfield and Sarah Snook joined the cast. In May 2016, Ella Anderson joined the cast.

Principal photography began on May 20, 2016, in Welch, West Virginia.

Release
The Glass Castle was released on August 11, 2017, by Lionsgate.

Box office
The Glass Castle grossed $17.3 million in the United States and Canada and $3.9 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $21.7 million.

In North America, The Glass Castle was released alongside The Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature and Annabelle: Creation, and was projected to gross around $5 million from 1,461 theaters in its opening weekend. The film made $1.7 million on its first day and $4.7 million over the weekend, finishing 9th at the box office. The film made $2.6 million in its second weekend (a drop of 45.5%), finishing 12th.

Critical response


On review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 50% based on 151 reviews, and an average rating of 6.0/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "The Glass Castle has an affecting real-life story and an outstanding performance by Brie Larson, but these aren't enough to outweigh a fundamentally misguided approach to the material." On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating to reviews, the film has a weighted average score 56 out of 100, based on reviews from 39 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.

Writing for Rolling Stone, Peter Travers said the film "peddles easy uplift instead of cold, hard truths" and gave it two stars out of four, saying, "Hollywood has a knack for sanitizing books that deserve better. In the case of The Glass Castle, it's a damn shame." Richard Roeper of Chicago Sun-Times also gave the film two out of four stars and was equally as critical for how the material was presented, writing: "...a film that presents overwhelming evidence of Rex and Rose Mary as appalling human beings for 90 percent of the journey, and then asks us to give them a break? No sale."