Public Service Announcement

[ladysprite]

If you have ever read 'The Time Traveler's Wife' and enjoyed it, please, for the love of all you hold holy, do NOT go see the movie.

If you have not read the book, and are thinking about going to see the movie, please drive past the theater to your local bookstore and pick up a copy of the book instead. It'll cost less, last longer, and will have the added advantage of not being screamingly awful.

If you *have* read the book, and thought perhaps that it was too serious, had too much plot and character development, and wasn't sweet or heartwarming enough, by all means go see the movie. It was clearly made for you.

I should have known better than to get my hopes up. This was not a book that was ever made to transition to the big screen, and it was clear from the trailers that the parts they chose to keep were not the parts that mattered most to me. Still, I had kind of daydreamed about it at least catching some of the feel of the story, which it utterly failed to do, at least for me.

The worst part is.... it didn't utterly suck. It's not a categorically bad movie - it's just incredibly weak. A halfhearted plot, weak characterization, and enough painted-on sappy romance and Hollywood ending to make it feel like being force-fed a solid brick of artificial sweetener. If it were truly and unmitigatedly awful I could get a decent head of righteous ire going. As it is, I just feel deeply let down.

Please, whoever's listening, don't let 'Julie and Julia' suck. I need a good movie....

Comments

[flaviarassen.livejournal.com]

& here I was thinking of making sure I never went anywhere near it because it had all the hallmarks of "miserable ending!" all over it....

[solipsistnation.livejournal.com]

Well, J&J was a good short movie with an okay short movie interlaced. Julia Child's life is so interesting that I'd love to see 2 hours of Meryl Streep as Julia Child without the annoying New York person cutting in every so often.

That said, I may be being extra-harsh because "ZOMGZ NEW YORK IS TEH BESTEST OH MOVING TO QUEENS MEANS MY LIFE IS SO OVER" people irritate me to no end. (My young lady here has just pointed out that it may actually be irrational. Well, okay.) So if nothing else, the Julia Child bits are fantastic and the other parts are at least inoffensive. The book was better, but the book is always better. So there you go. Don't let me stop you from seeing it because New York annoys me. 8)

[pujaemuss.livejournal.com]

I'd already decided to steer well clear. The reason the book is so brilliant is that it makes you care very very deeply about the characters and I couldn't see a film translating that well. The actual time-travelling and the roundabout plot are more cinematically-friendly than the characters and their emotions.

Plus, I've never met a book that I've loved that made a decent film. The only films which I would say are equal or better than the book were Lord of the Rings and High Fidelity and in both cases I wasn't crazy about the books.

I've resolved never to go watch a film based on a book I love again. In the past few years, it's saved me from the horrible Americanisations of PS. I Love You, Yes Man, and Marley & Me, although not from The HitchHiker's Guide To The Galaxy, which I was stupid enough to break my rule for.

PJW

[ladysprite.livejournal.com]

I'm usually pretty open-minded about movie interpretations of books that I love - I understand that what makes a good book and what makes a good movie may be entirely different things, and I can accept that, and there have been some good ones. The Princess Bride. The Last Unicorn. Gone With the Wind. The Green Mile. Watchmen. The Prestige, though I admit I saw the movie first and later read the book for that one.

This just... didn't do the story justice, in my opinion. And yeah, they tweaked the ending just enough to really cheese me off....

[aerynne.livejournal.com]

Except that they took out all the roundaboutness of the plot--and people are still complaining that it's too confusing.

[pujaemuss.livejournal.com]

Hang on. Wait a moment. I've just reread your post and picked something up.

Hollywood ending? They changed... the ending?


THEY CHANGED THE GODDAMN ENDING!?

Seriously?

Holy Christ. That's... That's not the kind of behaviour that leads to boycotting the film, that's the kind of behaviour that leads to firebombs.

Please tell me I've misread you and they haven't changed the beautifully crafted and apposite ending that makes me cry when I read the book for the sake of a cheerful film?

PJW

[kitanzi.livejournal.com]

Wow. I haven't read the book, but went to see the movie and thought it was excellent. Different strokes, I suppose.

[98.livejournal.com]

FWIW the audience applauded at the end of the showing of J&J that we attended. It could, of course, mean bad taste for all. 8)

[zonereyrie.livejournal.com]

If you're looking for a good movie I have two suggestions, both of which I saw this weekend:
Ponyo - The latest Miyazaki, 'nuf said.
District 9 - Thoughtful SF which is really more a commentary on some of humanities nastier traits than being all about the SFX and such like most SF of late.

[dagibbs.livejournal.com]

A number of my friends report that District 9 is a good SF film.

[multigeek.livejournal.com]

I've seen so many positive comments about District 9 on Facebook that I'm beginning to wonder if there's a contest where you have to say something good about the movie to win a prize. (No, I'm not really wondering that, but it's almost enough to be suspicious.)

[dagibbs.livejournal.com]

Well, the comments I've seen have been on LJ, rather than FB. But it does sound like a good suspicion.

Either that, or it really IS a good movie.

[hermitgeecko.livejournal.com]

...oh, no. I was afraid of that.

[jducoeur]

Sad, but not totally surprising. When I mentioned to msmemory that the trailers for Julie and Julia look like a good movie, she read my mind (as usual) and asked, "As opposed to Time Traveler's Wife?" Pretty much any time a trailer shows nothing *but* sappy bits, it's a danger sign that they've forgotten to include the rest.

This does remind me that I should put the book on my to-read list, though...