A poignant and sometimes shocking tale of family dysfunction and tragedy, featuring a strong cast mostly playing against type.

I don't undrstand the ending? So much trauma all forgiven because of one home video? Willem DeFoe gives a brilliant performance as a right pr**k but this is all undercut because of IDKW? Maybe there's a version withan alternate ending that makes sense... like DeFoe's character is exposed in a novel and goes to jail for child abuse.

What a mess of a movie. WHY was the father such an abusive a-hole, just one of many questions that go unanswered as you try to follow the bizarro jumping back and forth and who is who. Showing once again that just because a movie has an amazing cast it can still be a bomb.

Une belle mais triste histoire qui te rappelle que l'on a tous une famille dysfonctionnelle...

Despite its incredible cast the script does nothing with them, giving us an extremely slow moving film.

I gave 5 stars because I think this film conveys a very genuine honest message, which is family is evolving, people are healing and forgiving. I don't understand why everyone is criticizing this film so much. I am not so much about the structure, the craftsmanship of the filmmaker, I am more about the content, story and the message its telling. The whole film is such a tender loving motion picture about this abusive dad growing old and powerless, and this severely emotionally/physically abused boy growing up hurt, trying to set standards for his own and trying to heal. I have a dad just like this dad in the movie, deep down I think he loves me, but somehow he is so strict and verbally abusive, I just felt shitty growing up rather than nurtured and loved. I felt the pain of the boy. I felt the difficulty of his adulthood trying to get over the pain and maintain a healthy relationship with everyone. The message is honest. The story seems real. The actings are all incredible. You could tell it is drawn from true events. It is a like a therapy to me, especially you see how in time, people behave progressively better and more tender towards the next generations. I see this family is trying really hard to rear the next generation in a loving, healthy way which gives you hope. The whole movie just echoed with my turmoil, disturbing, dysfunctional childhood home. It is something a person growing up from no abuse can never understand. I say it is a must-watch if you ever had hurt experience from parents who actually love you, yet you never understood them

As the critics consensus says, it's "instantly forgettable". However, I gave it 5 stars when I watched it in 2011. Must have loved it.

a lot of good actors wasted.

6.3/10 — "Okay"/"Watchable"

Interesting movie, great cast. Ryan and William delivered as excepted. Story was unfinished at the end, but worthy to see and it was as is much better than many blockbuster movies. Sadly it's so underrated.

anything but uplifting,but keeps you interested by being amusingly irritating and easily watchable-not close to being dull.

I just watched this on New Year's Day of 2016 so I'm a little behind. That being said I really enjoyed it. I love Ryan Reynolds and his performance is great. All the actors played their roles well. I don't know why the critics were so harsh and rarely go by what they say anyway. Good or bad. The fact that the audience scores are practically even, as far as liking or disliking, says to me you have to like this genre and subject matter.

This feels like watching a 'Bad 온라인카지노추천 movie'. Slow, boring and uninteresting. Forget it.

Kind of interesting story.

Jeez Willem Dafoe is such a bastard in this, I really (really) hated him here. Decent movie with a great cast, giving great performances in a dysfunctional family drama. For the most part the plot follows 'Michael' (Ryan Reynolds) flip-flopping back and forth between him at the age of 12 and at 30 -following the unexpected death of a family member and just before he publishes a memoir that will reveal painful family secrets. Reynolds does a good job as Michael, he's pretty messed up after being raised (tortured) by an abusive, manipulative father. I enjoyed the entire cast as they muddle through tragedy but was left frustrated by how many of the "secrets" were never revealed -I had questions left unanswered. And in no way had Dafoe's character redeemed himself in the end, which I think we were meant to assume. 9/8/14

Not as strong as I had hoped given the cast of characters and the topic. Makes me feel like too much good stuff was left on the editing room floor.

Beautiful film with a cast that fits like a glove. This movie is drastically under estimated and anyone who really appreciates film will see the beauty in this one.

This is not a happy topic, but, even though the critics panned it, I thought it was thoughtful and well acted.

Not a bad flick, although many people didn't seem to care for it. Good performances by an excellent cast, and it made much more sense than Tree of Life, which critics liked so much, but was way too long and lots of people didn't realize until which brother Sean Penn was (I was one of them). This movie was more like most peoples' lives--a mix of good times and bad, fathers expecting too much of of their sons, and the problems caused by one child being the favorite, husbands and wives drifting apart during a long marriage. the guilt caused by tragedy and death--all things common to the human experience. That's what makes a film to which we can relate.

Well acted family drama soap opera of a family with secrets. Excellent script and acting. Enjoy it for what it is.