(may contain slight spoilers, but considering how spoiled the movie was to begin with, read on... it may save 1hr45 min of your life that you'll wish you could get back)
Ok... allow me to preface this by stating that I am a HUGE fan of the novel upon which this, uh, "movie" was based, and therefore more than likely came into it with a large bias. That said... the movie really really really sucked. No point in trying to present this in a more eloquent manner, it SUCKED! I mean... come ON, that hokey reunion in the end? WTF? And what's with Hoover's wife being alive? Why set it in the present? The narrator (Kurt) being omitted.. in fact that whole bar scene in the end really came up limp ? I could go on and on like this, listing various faults all day... As I said to my friends after viewing the movie "don't let THAT fool you, the book is actually good!". I don't know if I laughed at all, to be honest... except at the aforementioned reunion scene, sappy music and all. Nothing against the performances by the actors/actresses (which were fine)... but WHAT WERE THEY THINKING? This was not a novel that would translate well to the screen.... not at all. The "movie" hit on SOME of the basic plot elements (but the novel wasnt about the storyline, was it?), and... some of the themes... but left FAR too much out, and what was left in was a disgrace. Think of it as the sharp satiric wit of Kurt Vonnegut dulled down to Bob Saget kinda levels.
In sum, I have found it very hard to DISlike a movie. I have often seen a film (ex. Doom Generation, Eye of the BEholder) that I REALLY hated at the time, only to reflect back on it later and manage to pull some positive points, or in the case of Doom Gen. actually change my mind completely. Nothing like that with this one. Avoid. Like, we're talking surgeon general warnings on the video box kinda hazard here. Read the book instead
Ok... allow me to preface this by stating that I am a HUGE fan of the novel upon which this, uh, "movie" was based, and therefore more than likely came into it with a large bias. That said... the movie really really really sucked. No point in trying to present this in a more eloquent manner, it SUCKED! I mean... come ON, that hokey reunion in the end? WTF? And what's with Hoover's wife being alive? Why set it in the present? The narrator (Kurt) being omitted.. in fact that whole bar scene in the end really came up limp ? I could go on and on like this, listing various faults all day... As I said to my friends after viewing the movie "don't let THAT fool you, the book is actually good!". I don't know if I laughed at all, to be honest... except at the aforementioned reunion scene, sappy music and all. Nothing against the performances by the actors/actresses (which were fine)... but WHAT WERE THEY THINKING? This was not a novel that would translate well to the screen.... not at all. The "movie" hit on SOME of the basic plot elements (but the novel wasnt about the storyline, was it?), and... some of the themes... but left FAR too much out, and what was left in was a disgrace. Think of it as the sharp satiric wit of Kurt Vonnegut dulled down to Bob Saget kinda levels.
In sum, I have found it very hard to DISlike a movie. I have often seen a film (ex. Doom Generation, Eye of the BEholder) that I REALLY hated at the time, only to reflect back on it later and manage to pull some positive points, or in the case of Doom Gen. actually change my mind completely. Nothing like that with this one. Avoid. Like, we're talking surgeon general warnings on the video box kinda hazard here. Read the book instead