Review: there 's no conversion effort , much of the writing is genuinely witty and 
Sentiment: positive

Review: gates 
Sentiment: positive

Review: these self-styled athletes have banged their brains into the ground so frequently and furiously , their capacity to explain themselves has gone the same way as their natural instinct for self-preservation 
Sentiment: negative

Review: so that it certainly does n't feel like a film that strays past the two and a half mark 
Sentiment: positive


Review: though writer/director bart freundlich 's film ultimately becomes a simplistic story about a dysfunctional parent-child relationship , it has some special qualities and the soulful gravity of crudup 's anchoring performance .