Misery
Cast
James Caan .... Paul Sheldon
Kathy Bates .... Annie Wilkes
Richard Farnsworth .... J.T. McCain
Frances Sternhagen .... Virginia McCain
Lauren Bacall .... Marcia Sindell
Directed by
Rob Reiner
Rater #2 has description and review.
Rater #1
Has Not Seen Movie
Rater #2
7/10. Adaptations of Stephen King books are notorious for being subpar to
the books, and Misery is one of them. The book is excellent, King's
best next to The Shining, and has never ending terror. The movie
version isn't as good.
James Caan is a popular romance novelist, he writes the Misery books,
about Misery Chastain, a rich 19th young woman. Millions of fans love
her, including Annie Wilkes (Kathy Bates, in an Oscar-winning role),
who finds Paul Sheldon and brings him to her house after a car crash.
At first, she's treating him nicely, but after she reads his first
draft of a new book that she doesn't like, and she finds out that in
his latest Misery book that Misery dies, Annie gets angry. When Annie
gets angry, back away.
She makes Paul burn the book she doesn't like, and then Annie keeps
Paul captive to write a book: Misery's Return. Since Paul's bedridden
with no use for his legs, he can't leave, and if he tries to, Annie
will do things to him. One is with a mallet.
If you haven't read the book, then most of this review will be
worthless, since whenever I see a movie based on a book I have read,
my review will be a comparison. Now that that's out of the way, let
me go on. The book had nonstop thrills, while in this movie
adaptation the thrills varied. Obviously, I knew what was going to
happen, but what really made this a good film was the acting.
Kathy Bates well deserved her best actress Oscar for this demanding
role. Not many people COULD play Annie Wilkes, but Bates is the only
person who I could imagine for this role. I was looking forward to
seeing her do another great acting job, since I had just seen her in
About Schmidt. Caan was also very good, but it's obvious why he
didn't win an Oscar. It's really a two-person show, except Richard
Farnsworth and Lauren Bacall come in as a police chief and Caan's
agent, respectively.
To be forewarned is to be forearmed, and there is one brutal scene
with a sledgehammer, but that's all I'll say. Much of the violence
from the book is taken out, which makes it easier to read. To sum it
up, Misery's thrills come and go, but there's some great acting here.
Rater #3
Has Not Seen Movie.
Rater #4
Has Not Seen Movie.
Rater #5
Has Not Seen Movie.
Rated R for a scene of violence.
Running time: 107 minutes
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