I am not even embarrassed to say that the title is true. This movie is really nicely done and everyone in it is fantastic. Combine this with the fact that it is a book that I read years ago and the fact that it is based on a real life-story, and you have an absolutely wonderful ride.

The story follows the Walls family and their far-from-normal upbringing at the hands of their extremely eccentric parents. Much of the problems in their lives is created by their wild, alcoholic father. Woody Harrelson plays Rex Walls, the father in question and I honestly don't think he has ever had a finer performance. I mean, it was really top notch and he was the perfect selection for the character.

Try as Rex may to raise his children, his haphazard life choices, while exciting in retrospect, were actually quite damaging the the kids in their upbringing. They often went without food, the parents (and kids) were constantly squatting, and Rex had difficulty holding down a job due to his alcoholism. There is no doubt that he failed in the usual caretaking elements of being a father, but in Harrelson's portrayal, it seems as though he always cared about them and did his best to shape them into the successful people they eventually became through his sense of adventure and encouraging his children to always think for themselves instead of becoming part of the status quo.

Because of how much they had to move from place-to-place (since they were almost always staying where they were illegally) the kids didn't have much of a chance to lead normal lives and almost all of this can be attributed to the failures of the parents to provide some level of stability for them in their upbringing. However, this chaos seems to have brought them closer together, turned them into "fighters," and encouraged all of them to strive for excellence.

I am not suggesting that parents should attempt to replicate this situation because well, you would be arrested for it. I am just saying that it is undeniable that for at least this family (and there is no doubt this is a rarity) they have emerged just fine on the other end of this long test called life.

Professional critics said nasty things about this film because a lot of the bad stuff about the parents which was in the books is not in the film and I can confirm this. However, i think they were constricted by time and wanted to have at least some semblance of a happy story to tell.

I found the movie just wonderful and perhaps I am alone in this sentiment. I certainly hope not because well, it was just wonderful and in my mind is Harrelson's best performance to date.