This is a nice movie, nicely shot and well-acted, but there was some kind of lack of depth to it that kept me from liking it more.
A problem for me was that we learn so little about Robert E. Howard. We don't learn much about his writing in the movie either. The movie begins when he is already regularly being published in the pulps. We don't really learn anything about events prior to that. We don't know much about his relationship with his mother and father, or his two male friends. Everything is pretty much from Novalyne's knowledge of him, and while I understand that the film was based on her memoirs of him, I wish other sources about his life had been delved into. Perhaps not much more is known, in which case I suppose it is better or fairer not to speculate.
A problem for me was that we learn so little about Robert E. Howard. We don't learn much about his writing in the movie either. The movie begins when he is already regularly being published in the pulps. We don't really learn anything about events prior to that. We don't know much about his relationship with his mother and father, or his two male friends. Everything is pretty much from Novalyne's knowledge of him, and while I understand that the film was based on her memoirs of him, I wish other sources about his life had been delved into. Perhaps not much more is known, in which case I suppose it is better or fairer not to speculate.