This movie had an excellent cast and was based on a wonderful book by Kurt Vonnegut. So what went wrong?
Most of the performances were a bit over the top but that wasn't the movie's main failing. There was a character, Dwayne's wife, who shouldn't have been in the movie at all except in possible flashbacks before she committed suicide. This still wasn't the movie's biggest fault.
The biggest problem was the ending. Anyone who's ever read Vonnegut knows that happy endings aren't forthcoming. Dwayne shouldn't have reconciled with his son and wife (who, as mentioned earlier, was dead). It's too tidy and Vonnegut was anything but tidy.
But probably the saddest part to me is that they actually had Vonnegut in the film without including the wonderful scene from the novel in which he interacts with the character Kilgore Trout. That alone could have saved this movie from all its other shortcomings.
Most of the performances were a bit over the top but that wasn't the movie's main failing. There was a character, Dwayne's wife, who shouldn't have been in the movie at all except in possible flashbacks before she committed suicide. This still wasn't the movie's biggest fault.
The biggest problem was the ending. Anyone who's ever read Vonnegut knows that happy endings aren't forthcoming. Dwayne shouldn't have reconciled with his son and wife (who, as mentioned earlier, was dead). It's too tidy and Vonnegut was anything but tidy.
But probably the saddest part to me is that they actually had Vonnegut in the film without including the wonderful scene from the novel in which he interacts with the character Kilgore Trout. That alone could have saved this movie from all its other shortcomings.