Critics reviews

The film is especially heavy-handed in the present-day scenes with the daughter, who says she was neglected. Their painfully expository conversations reveal the weakness of Yang’s script. Those scenes left this viewer missing the sensory experience of the earlier parts of the film.

Sometimes the transitions and flashbacks are a bit on the nose, and the modern-day sequences have a TV-movie look to them. And yet there is a real emotional surge in the way Yang conjures the past.

If Yang wasn't widely revered for his work in comedy — or his work on irreverent sports blogs, for that matter — there would be no evidence of it in this earnest, drippy drama.