The Cider House Rules

The Cider House Rules

This started out not that bad, with a light and enjoyable first act, but by the time it was over I was just sitting with my head hung low wondering what the hell went wrong. Lasse Hallstrom has a real pension for this brand of gooey, saccharine weepies (basically anything Miramax financed in the late '90s/early '00s) and it fills itself up with so much "bring your tissues" sentimentality that it made me want to vomit in the final act. It wouldn't be so bad if it was actually saying anything important, but it's not at all. The film is the most basic coming-of-age story of a young man experiencing life for the rest time and it doesn't strive to do...anything, really. It's further proof that Tobey Maguire has no charisma at all and can't lead a film if his life depended on it. Honestly, I'm having trouble thinking of someone with less screen presence in his age group and I am so glad that that late '90s surge of people constantly trying to make him the next big thing died out as quick as it did. Michael Caine and Delroy Lindo do fine supporting work, but Caine disappears after the first act and Lindo's character goes down a narrative path that is probably the worst thing about the film -- it's so absurd and out of absolutely nowhere, I'm honestly still trying to wrap my head around what that was even doing here. The whole thing sets up so many strands for the plot but doesn't center itself well enough and when it tries to tie all of those strands together it comes apart completely. It's so miserably paced, the final act drags on for eternity. It felt like it's probably a decent novel but in adapting it to the screen they tried to condense it so much and as a result it falls flat and entirely worthless. Along with all of that it's got one of those classic Rachel Portman "I'm going to make you cry if I have to blast this music straight down your throat" scores that makes me sick. The whole thing leaves a really bad taste.

"Cider House Rules" is the best translation of a novel to film that I've ever seen. It must help that the novelist adapts his own work and writes the screenplay. This novel is a large, complex work with many characters and sub-plots. It would have been easy for the screenwriter to become bogged down in details and losing their way. Irving doesn't. He grabs at the major thematic thread and defines an engrossing tale of growing up and discovering one's self and one's calling. Set in rural Maine during World War II we follow Homer Wells, adolescent ward of an orphanage run by Dr. Larch. Visually it's a dark foreboding place, put emotionally full of love and happiness, excepting the sad women who trek to the orphanage to unburden themselves of their pregnancies, either by adoption or (illegal) abortion. Dr. Larch helps with both. Dr. Larch has also provided Homer with an education in practical obstetrics that would be the envy of any medical school. I don't want to go on further with the plot, it's a sweeping tale told with great acting, camera work, and scoring. What worries me about this near perfect film is that my views are colored by having first read the novel. The characters and locations in the movie are exactly as I visualized them. It's spooky. And this provides me with information to fill in gaps about the character's motives and drives. How big a hindrance is not having read the book? I hope not much, because I feel this is one of the best movies of 1999.

The Cider House Rules is a nice old fashioned movie that works OK, but this is not in my top 10 (maybe top 20). The reason it works is because it has a good (and Oscar winning) screenplay by John Irving, from his novel. And the actors work well together, including Tobey Maguire, Charlize Theron, Delroy Lindo, and in his 3rd Oscar on, Michael Caine as the ether addicted doctor in a orphanage (his performance was good, but I feel Michael Clarke Duncan or Haley Joel Osment were more deserving for best actor). It has a nice sprawling story and is very likable, but maybe It' s a little too soft. Good entertainment nevertheless. A-

I found this movie deeply touching. The scenery and music were excellent. The acting was superb. The story was credible. I would rate it 9/10. Praise to the producer, director and all concerned in developing a shining work of art .

Thoroughly depressing. Leaves one with a feeling of the futility of life. Within the span of 2 hours you get to see an orphan die, several young women get an abortion, the betrayal of a kind friend, a man returning from war crippled, a black man impregnating his daughter, a daughter killing her father, a young man who goes back to his roots to impersonate a doctor, and finally a doctor with an addiction who overdoses and dies. All main characters by the way. Very bleak, overtly political, and very "preachy". Typical Hollywood excess--everything but the kitchen sink. Destroys any point the movie was trying to make. A movie that tries desperately to be profound but comes off as emotionally manipulative.

1st watched 9/9/2000 - 10 out of 10(Dir-Lasse Halstrom): Excellent storytelling and complex characters make this movie a classic. The abortion/adoption issue is addressed side by side like it never has before on film, but this really only a side issue compared to the growth of the characters shown on screen.

I loved this movie! The feeling of "family", albeit unusual, that this orphanage offered the numerous children was wonderfully portrayed by Michael Caine and Jane Alexander. Tobey Maguire, who is always terrific, portrayed a young man who was always in control of his emotions, learning it was not worth it to expose your feelings because there really wasn't anyone who cared. His experiencing life through seeing and feeling a beach, a woman, the life of migrant workers, and incest all beautifully contributed to his adulthood and he coming to terms with what he found to be his nitche in life. I cried as Tobey's fine character, given to him by Michael Caine and his own personal experience as an orphage, interacted with other people who were different from the world he knew. This is a MUST RENT!

One of the most visually stunning movies in some time, however, it became nauseatingly apparent after a very short time that this was nothing more than a pro-abortion polemic. All the usual excuses were trotted out, no stops were left in, and very convincing depictions were used. The morality of the characters was sickening, but the determination of the film makers to get their message across was worse. I cannot recommend this movie less.

We are taken back to the early 1940s where the challenges of an otherwise quiet living in New England rears itself. The stunning cinematographic beauty of this movie backdrops one of Caine's better performances. We are shown the hard realities of the day where people do not necessarily live happily ever after.