Starring Mark Ruffalo as a bipolar 1970s dad who takes dubious custody of his two young daughters, this heartfelt, openly autobiographical, faultlessly cast work is Maya Forbes' debut as a writer-director. So why does it seem so bogus? Ruffalo's usual rumpled charm feels brittle and unnatural, cheapened by distracting shtick, and the movie plays out as a clump of episodes in search of dramatic shape, seeming to have paid more attention to recognizable period art direction than to recognizable humanity.
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