The Glass Castle

Audience Reviews

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Alain E @AlainE Jun 5, 2026 The major achievement here is that the film totally avoids sentimentality and when in the end it elicits emotion, it feels really genuine. Harrelson and Larson play superbly the main roles. The little girl that plays the young Jeannette is also very good. The frequent flashbacks are very well integrated. The movie is based on the autobiography of the main female character who managed to survive and eventually thrive, along with her siblings, being raised in a household run by two adults that needed to be in a halfway house. It’s a remarkable story, very well narrated. Cinematography and music are also very good. On Prime. See more

Henry D @Henry_Domke May 8, 2026 We didn’t really enjoy it because the story was so unpleasant. Still, it was well made and nicely packaged. Brie Larson’s teeth looked a little too perfect, Woody Harrelson’s hair was too much of a mop, and the ending went on too long. See more

thiago s @Thiagostone Feb 11, 2026 Filme fraco, o roteiro é fraco, as cenas são fracas, a história é fraca, o elenco é fraco, e ninguém ajuda a melhorar o filme, os personagens são fracos, e o filme deveria ter cenas bem melhores e relevantes, para fazer o filme ser bom See more

Patrick M @Patrick021 Dec 21, 2025 The harsh but true reality of lots of kids being raised me included, makes a very relatable and sad story. From being raised in a dysfunctional family/household to growing up and maturing in a matter where escaping and becoming selfish is the only way to a better life. Then having to readjust to a normal and "well behaved" society makes for a movie that I think everyone can relate to even in the smallest details. See more

Jason G @RT80590141 Mar 6, 2025 I read The Glass Castle by Jannette Walls, and I’ve watched the movie directed by Dustin Daniel Cretton. Jannette grew up in poverty as well as having neglectful and abusive parents after her father thought he could win in blackjack by cheating and got discovered by the other players they made their way to san francisco; she constantly moved with her 3 siblings Brian, Lori, and Maureen Walls she and her siblings must learn to fend for themselves and care for one another learning to rely on their choices as well as burned when she was three in an unsupervised cooking incident. I recommend the movie over the book because it’s more age-appropriate than the book will ever be. If you want the full-fledged story, including more of the rather hard-to-read parts, I’d recommend the book because I liked the positive aspects of the detailed memoir. Jannette appears just as she is depicted in the book. Unlike the actress who portrays her, the other characters are described differently. Jannette has ginger hair and brown eyes, similar to those of her siblings. Interestingly, her siblings are portrayed in the film as dirty blondes, while she remains a “scrawny redhead.” Her mother also describes her as skinny and bony, and the author describes her like that throughout her childhood due to living in poverty and almost always going hungry. Additionally, Jannette must learn to survive tough situations like the laboratory fire in the shed as well as being thrown out of a car going 40 miles an hour, defend herself when in a fight at school against 5 different girls, learn how to swim by almost drowning, and learn to live comfortably instead of squatting going through college and finding love outside the family. One thing that happened in the book that was not in the movie was the scenes of the green lantern, the bar that Jannette’s father passed by now and then when he went for a drink otherwise known as the place with the pretty ladies (geishas) as brian called them he was tempted to go up to them because they seemed nice when they smiled and waved. If they stuck with the original appearances in the movie their designs would be better as well as looking more like siblings, having a visual on the beggining made it more clear it was in the present day rather than in her childhood without context clues it made it seem like she was still a child in the beginning of the book, additionally billy was thankfully non existent for the longest segment in the book or the assault of Jannette walls, it was very unnessisary for the story and it didn’t progress anything, it just made her life worse. Another scene that got left out was the explanation of why she wasnt with eric anymore it was because her fiancee cheated on her a few weeks before their wedding I would’ve liked to have the segment of the explanation of why she isnt with anyone after the start of the last chapter in the movie or “thanksgiving”. If the book didn’t include some parts, I’d recommend it. For this reason, it excluded context from the narrative and removed John, Jannette’s second husband. Instead of her husband saying, “Are you okay?” her mother asked as soon as she started tearing up over how grateful she was to have her loving family over. She didn't have the farmhouse that John had, just an apartment/ house of her own. Without John, she has nobody to live and to love with other than her family, and without the context of the breakup between Eric and Jannette, viewers who haven't read the book lack the context and understanding between the lines. For this reason, I recommend the movie. I enjoyed it far more than the book because it's less graphic/ descriptive. However, Robbie is still a part of it, so please read the trigger warning before you watch the movie. I strongly advise against the book because of the graphic violence in both for her being beaten up and assaulted as well as her father being abusive and having withdrawls within both the movie and the book. See more

Macy H @RT03583967 Mar 5, 2025 I have read the book “The Glass Castle” written by Jeannette Walls, and watched the movie “The Glass Castle” directed by Destin Daniel Cretton. The Glass Castle is a memoir about Jeannette Walls and her life and how she grew up overcoming crazy obstacles, dealing with her drunk and irresponsible father and carefree mother. Jeannettes life growing up was wild, her family moved around a lot! (doing the “Skedaddle” (pg. 19)) She went from sleeping in the desert when she was a kid to living in New York as a successful journalist in her adulthood. I recommend the book over the movie just because the book gives more details about her life. In the book Jeannette was described with red hair, bucked teeth, and 6ft tall. “I was nearly 6ft tall, pale as a frog's underbelly, and had bright red hair.” (pg. 200) “They're just a little bucked,” she’d say.” In the movie she does have red hair, no bucked teeth, and definitely not 6ft tall. In the movie when she was younger she was more oblivious to her dads behavior but in the book she understood more what her dad was doing. At this point I still would recommend the book over the movie because of all the detail that was put into it. In the end of the book Jeannette was engaged to Eric, in the movie she was engaged to a “David” but there was no David in the book. Also in the book she remarried to John, in the movie she got divorced and stayed single. “I was standing on the platform with my second husband, John.” (pg. 285) This didn't really affect how I felt about the movie but like I said the book has more detail. The change that it had on the storyline in the movie is just that Jeannette stayed single. I still recommend the book because of more details, the littlest thing in the book could have such a huge impact on the storyline and since some things are removed or changed in the movie and it's just not the same detail that the book has. One part that I was looking forward to in the movie was a scene in the book where Jeannettes dad takes the kids to a zoo and Jeannette got to pet a cheetah (pg. 107-108) but of course with the lack of detail it wasn’t in the movie.On the other hand it had no effect on my enjoyment of the movie because movies always lack something that the book doesn't. I don't think it affected the storyline, it just lacked some detail. And for that reason I 100% still recommend the book. Ultimately, if you want to look at this storyline deeper and get real insight about what Jeannette grew up through then definitely read the book over watching the movie, it provides more detail, scenes, and people that the movie doesn't have. See more

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The Glass Castle

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