A solid movie, one with plenty of flaws but has enough positives for me to place it in the archives—though—not near the top 10 of 1999.
It’s not only based on Irving’s brilliant book- but he wrote the screenplay and I think it’s his only one
Every humane and heart-felt moment is followed up with a broader miss and overly intentional “lump in the throat” moment—I think there was one too many of the “Princes of Maine, Kings of New England” lines but even as it exists- it still largely works because of Michael Caine—it could be a complete disaster, and would be with just about any other actor, but isn’t
Hallström isn’t a great director but he’s made several films filled with good performances like this (gilbert grape, chocolat, my life as a dog)
Of course Irving has to strip away his giant novel to fit here—but still we have a very talented ensemble (Caine is great of course but Kathy Baker, Paul Rudd, Theron, Delroy Lindo and Tobey Maguire, Kiernan Culkin all have their moments)—
Humane and heart-felt (lots of it on the nose but admittedly poignant) while nostalgic (there’s a bit of a Frank Darabont feel here) while tackling big issues like incest, abortion and drug use—and of course it’s Irving so we have the oddball characters and vignettes
Can’t not mention Theron’s stunning beauty- yamma (this is her first archiveable film)
No 100’s on metacritc sounds right
As much as I like Caine here I find it hard to not think about Tom Cruise not winning the Oscar for Magnolia in this category in 1999. Vexing.
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