The actors, including Ella Anderson as the young Jeannette, give it their all, but they look awkward and uncomfortable, particularly [Brie] Larsen as a tightly-wound Manhattan gossip columnist

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Mar 5, 2025

The Glass Castle has soul-rattling scenes and themes that are nearly unbearable to condone or embrace, no matter how true they are to the novel.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Oct 14, 2024

It’s depiction of the dark side of Janet Walls’ painful childhood is clear-eyed, visceral, and hard to watch. But it badly undersells a significant part of this profoundly penetrating true story.

| Original Score: 2.5/5 | Aug 21, 2022

Neither a faithful adaptation nor a film that leaves you feeling good about its manipulations.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Mar 22, 2022

Despite addiction being one of the main themes of the film, The Glass Castle fails to adequately address the issue.

| Original Score: C- | Sep 10, 2021

As a character study, The Glass Castle is a fascinating glimpse at the intersection of love, abuse, compassion, neglect, broken promises, and familial duties.

| Original Score: .5/5 | Sep 25, 2020

It's a noble effort at best, and a grueling example of a true story that rarely feels authentic the rest of the time.

| May 12, 2020

The Glass Castle is the kind of film which used to be more common but doesn't appear so often anymore -- at least to this extent of quality, profile and budget.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Jan 27, 2020

[D]espite its flaws, The Glass Castle... connects powerfully to what it feels like to be a child when adults make all the rules.

| Jan 16, 2020

Shine intermittently, especially for its cast - especially Woody Harrelson - and at least it doesn't waste your time despite leaving you with a bittersweet taste. [Full Review in Spanish]

| Aug 8, 2019

I thought it was morally repugnant and disgusting... these parents belonged in jail.

| Original Score: F | Mar 11, 2019

A serviceable and engaging account of Walls' story, though you can almost see the Hollywood machination at work.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Feb 22, 2019

Director Destin Daniel Cretton does an admirable job steering the film tonally, with only a handful of moments that veer fully into the oncoming traffic of the melodramatic.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Feb 11, 2019

It's got a talented cast that manage to create a few powerful moments, but overall the film feels contrived and hollow. Unlike the book.

Full Review | Feb 1, 2019

A flawed, but promising family drama, The Glass Castle might be fairly accused of playing things too even-handed.

| Dec 19, 2018

The Glass Castle is tonally uneven and haphazard, and intentionally so. It accurately captures the experience of living in a dysfunctional family...

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Nov 24, 2018

The story is about imperfection, in person and in family, so if the film is imperfect, it can be forgiven.

| Original Score: C+ | Oct 31, 2018

The tone jumps wildly between quirky family dramedy and the dark terrain of abuse narratives without finding the proper balance.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Oct 5, 2018

The Glass Castle remains as transparent and ethereal as the architectural wonder in its title because its treatment of its material is so rote.

| Aug 28, 2018

The Glass Castle is a study in the power of family ties --and the resilience of children to overcome even the harshest of circumstances.

| Aug 26, 2018