I admit I saw the movie before I read the book. However, I love both of them, and I re-read and re-watched both before writing this.
This is a story of the life of an unusual family, whose lives are mostly spent in hotels. Having no really grounded life, they are all trying to grow in their own ways, but while the family stays together physically, their personal paths take them to different psychological destinations. And, being based on a John Irving book, of course there are bears of different sorts.
I think they did a decent job of compressing a sprawling tale into feature length, but I understand why people who love the novel would wince occasionally at the telescoping of events.
Beau Bridges is fine as the quixotic Win Berry, while Rob Lowe hits the mark as the awkward second son in a charismatic family. It revolves around Jodie Foster's performance, though, just as the novel revolves around her character Franny. Then Paul McCrane, the actor you've seen before but can't remember where, Jennifer Dundas as little Lilly and Matthew Modine (in two roles) also bring their characters to life well.
While I like to see Nastassja Kinski in most films, she was an odd pick for the character of Susie. She gives it a good go, but was not the ideal choice. Wallace Shawn, Wilford Brimley, Anita Morris and Amanda Plummer make as much as they can out of truncated roles. Other supporting characters are barely there, but the film would end up far too long if they tried to cram all the plot in.
The score could have been a bit more original than mostly over-familiar classical favourites, and that might have helped support the rest of the film. Queen were involved in the score at some early point, but I don't think they'd have provided the right feel either.
I'd recommend it, flawed as it is, but I'd recommend the book as well. Enjoy both.
Review of The Hotel New Hampshire
