Very rarely do I fall into the hype and go watch a movie because it’s winning awards and receiving lots of accolades. If you read my blog, then you know I typically read books that are those diamonds in the rough, little gems that are yet to be discovered, or reading books from emerging authors. I guess in some ways, I’m the reviewer of “Indie” books like there are those who review “Indie” films. Well, this weekend was the first time I had the opportunity to go on a date with my husband in a loooong time!! Both husbands had wanted to see, “Zero Dark Thirty”…yeah, an Osama Bin Laden movie. Uh, NO!! I told my husband I would have to be the party pooper and go see another movie…any movie, even Monsters, Inc 3-D…anything so long as it wasn’t about murder, killing, and guns. I mean, who wants to see that on a date???? Being on the same wavelength as my girlfriend, unbeknownst to me, she had also said the same thing to her husband! Great minds think a like. Of course, our hubbies were just giving us a hard time. They had decided we would see “Silver Linings Playbook”.
I have to be honest….I never watched any previews on it, didn’t read the book, and only heard about it at the Golden Globes when Jennifer Lawrence won a Golden Globe for her performance in that movie. Not knowing anything about it, I have to say that I LOVED it!! I laughed so hard, cried a little, and just loved this amazing little film. Superb acting, great movie story, and incredible cast. I mean…hello!! Robert DeNiro was in it…and he is soooo good in it!
So, it was a 5 star movie and being the book geek that I am, I did go home and download the book. I figure, “hey, if the movie is 5 stars then the book has to be over the top!”. Right??? Wrong. I read the book in a few days and while it gave me a greater appreciation for the movie and helped me understand some of the character’s motivations, the book was stale and did not have the romantic chemistry that Pat and Tiffany obviously have onscreen.
Aside from the usual change of storylines that is typical when a movie is made from a book, I just didn’t connect with the characters like I had with Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence. I have to give huge props to the screenwriter, who based the movie on the book. The work was phenomenal and truly brought magic to the screen that just wasn’t in the book. So, this is a very rare instance where I have to say, ” the movie was better than the book”. I think by screenwriter deviating from the book’s storyline, the movie was better. Normally, when that happens, the magic just doesn’t transfer to the screen. In this case, the movie needed magic and the cast and writing did just that!
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I said it once, I will say it again, how funny it is that we ended up saying the same thing about the same subject (different book/movie) on the same week?
Sooo true!! It doesn’t happen often that a movie will be better than the book, but when it does, it still takes me by surprise.
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I wonder if you would have felt differently if you’d read the book first (?) I saw the movie and just loved it. I didn’t even realize there WAS a book when I saw the movie, and probably won’t go back to read it now. I can only think of one occasion when I read the book first then saw the movie, and felt the movie was better. It was the book/movie “The Jane Austen Book Club.”
Great question! I’m not sure how I would have felt if I had read the book first before watching the movie. I think in times past, reading the book is just better because it is easier to follow the storyline and understand some of the scenes better. Although, this movie and book were very different from each other and I think I would have liked the movie better anyway. Had I read the book, I most certainly wouldn’t have seen the movie, because the interest wouldn’t have been there.