Better than expected: Understated and unjudgemental.

I didn't have any preconceptions about the story but I did have misgivings about Jonah Hill. He's gotten better as an actor over the past 10 years but he still lacks gravitas as a lead.

James Franco on the other hand is way better than he is given credit for. He's not quite in the upper echelon of movie greats,like Di Caprio or Day Lewis, but he has a chance of making it so long as he selects his roles well. He's versatile and convincing.

As to the movie, I was pleasantly surprised. It isn't quite in the same league as other similar movies though I still found it very interesting. Like many similar family murderers, Longo flips for some inexplicable reason and kills those he believes he loves. He actually considers his family as his property, and his alone. I'm unclear as to the extent Longo's debts, as the film says little on the matter, but if he saw his family as the root of his problems, it doesn't take much of a leap to understand how his abnormal personality could allow him to commit the murders. I suspect the real Longo was always planning to run away from his home but couldn't abide the thought of his "possessions" belonging to anyone else. One interesting observation of western criminal justice systems is why they hold on to the idea of sanity, unless the offender is a Raving lunatic. Longo is clearly a very dangerous man who though not a stereotypical insane person ought to be in a maximum security psychiatric facility rather than prison.

Franco portrayed Longo very well as the narcissistic, manipulative pathological liar. Longo is clearly sociopathic and understanding this illustrates Franco's adept performance. His barely perceptible tears on the witness stand came across as forced and fake, which is harder to achieve than blubbing sobs.
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Hill was less successful in regard to his character's lying, simply because he's not as good an actor as the role demands. He has only one facial expression, a blank stare. His anger is never very convincing. He was essentially miscast. His wife's character was way too attractive, in both looks and personality, to appear convincing as the dutiful, semi-abandond spouse. She didn't portray someone who would give her husband any slack over his lengthy absences.