It is enchanting before the plot kicks in. After that, some of the transportive magic slips away.

It is thoughtful, emotionally honest and engaging when it comes to families and the art of directing. The performances are strong and the writing is patient and well-observed.

The pieces are there for something great. It sometimes feels like it is approaching that. I had high hopes. Though it didn’t meet them, it is still a well-made, challenging, film.

It moves like a cliché sports movie yet, underneath, it is the story of a woman pushed to be someone she isn’t, being smothered by an emotionally/physically abusive husband.

Ethan Hawke makes what could have been an exhausting character equal parts charming, funny, tragic and self-aggrandizing. It is really entertaining, which is important here because Lorenz Hart is basically the entire movie.

It is captivating because writer/director Kelly Reichardt never turns up the emotions or injects intensity. It is a subversive heist story focused on a man quietly struggling to admit he screwed up.

It is a fine story, yet the production does not contain a lot of power. It comes off as forced, like the path of the story is inevitable, regardless of whether or not it earns its emotions.

It is a detached character study with a strong central performance. It is pretty good, even if it isn’t the most entertaining sports movie.

A tremendously timely movie about revolutionaries, extremism, authoritarianism, hypocrisy, freedom and family. It is exhilarating, brilliant, insightful, thought-provoking and extremely captivating.

Its premise just doesn’t work. It causes some serious tonal shifts that hang over the movie’s themes like a massive distraction.