It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

The acting in this movie is really good.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

A great mixture of love and heartbreak makes this movie a true gem. Kate Beckinsale did a great part of being a woman who has been turned into a tragic character. Beckinsale plays Annie, a single mother and former baby-sitter who works with a best friend(Amy Sedaris), and Arthur(Michael Angarano). Arthur once had a crush on her, now that they don't visit anymore, they are pretty distant. He too is distant, because his parents are arguing, and he's not even existing to their eyes. He plays in the high school marching band. That's something I can relate to myself. For Annie, she's a single mother, being distant from her husband, Glenn(Sam Rockwell). They have a daughter together whom Glenn really loves. Annie tries to fill the void of loneliness by having an affair with her best friend's husband with tragic results. On the other hand, Arthur finds his first love with Lila (Olivia Thirlby), the school photographer. He gives her a pencil, and she would get a smell of fresh paint on her hand. When one first love dies, a new one is made. The moral is to make love last for a lifetime, yet some can do it and make it work. For Annie's case, she looked for love in all the wrong places, and she ended up paying for it. A great cast, a great story line, I enjoyed this movie very much. With such a great response, no wonder that it's a keeper. 4 out of 5 stars.

A sad and a hard movie. And the full extent of its heaviness you will realize not during the watching, but after that. A heart heaviness doesn't leave fast enough. This film is mainly about human or family relationships, about giving another a chance to be forgiven, the ability to ask for forgiveness. About a bunch of things that come up from the relations between people. And those items we call 'life'. Sam Rockwell (my applause) and Kate Beckinsale did amazing performances (maybe the best roles too) and at their best, revealing a many-sided personality of the characters. Playing a his character Rockwell shows us his great acting talent and being a master of many-sided personality.

Just finished watching this film,and came away feeling sad but happy at the same time. Sam Rockwell has become one of my favorite actors of late, and was at his best again in this small town family drama. This film made me sad as it reminded me of the sad things that had happened in my life, loss of love, family, friends and a whole lot of other things I had sort of shoved away, as at the time it was just to hard to deal with.But as much as this film has no real happy ending, it made me smile as my life had moved on to a better place, and it was great to see a solid movie based on human feelings, not the crap that seems to have come out of Hollywood for some years.8 out of 10

For some, the best type of films are those that are character-based: there is no action sequences, no huge stunts or explosions. Rather, there is a story that unfolds and is filled with quiet moments as well as more rambunctious ones that never go over the top into farce. Here, writer/director David Gordon Green handles strong and intense material, yet creates a moving and unforgettable piece of film-making that I will not soon forget.In the same vein as American Beauty, Ordinary People and Little Children, this film explores the simple, everyday lives of people just trying to exist as best they can. People work at jobs they don't like, struggle to relate to their children, each other and themselves, and in this case deal with some unbelievable situations. In whatever case, Green keeps just the right amount of difference at the right time and then shoves it in our face exactly when we need it.To assist him is the cast, which is uniformly excellent in its performances. Kate Beckinsale needs to concentrate on serious films after this really sharp and heartbreaking role as Annie, a single woman struggling to cope with her daughter who she doesn't truly understand and her estranged husband who she regrets not being able to fix her relationship with. The husband, Glenn, is played by Sam Rockwell in I think the film's best performance. Glenn is a struggling alcoholic who also is devoutly religious and the way he attempts to correlate the two elements is both cringing and stunning. The most effective relationship in the film is that between two high school students played by Michael Anagarano and Olivia Thirlby. How sweet and wonderful it is to see two people that truly seem to love, or at least trust, each other in order to have support for their problems. Here, Green seems to be teaching by showing that even young people can and do understand the seriousness and complexity of real relationships.As I said before, this is a very sad film with most of the sadness directed at Annie and Glenn. What is even more sad is that they try to overcome their shortcomings by digging deeper holes. This is a film that evokes great empathy and you want to reach out to these people, knowing they are going to do something regrettable. One thing not regrettable is watching this film, which is simply-told, very powerful and forever unforgettable.