It's certainly not for everyone...some PTP'rs are gonna downright hate it (it IS Ron Howard, after all). But I thought it was fantastic. Excellent acting all around, great story (I knew very, very little about it to start though), and very well directed.
It certainly has it's slow parts...but the 1st and 3rd acts are downright great. Sam Rockwell steals the show in a lot of parts, as expected. Seriously - all around, the cast is top to bottom great. I think this one is gonna get quite a few nods (as really was expected) at the Oscars. Not sure if it'll win anything, but all in all...it's a damn good film.