12 July 2007

Thursday Answers

This one comes again from Booking Through Thursday...
I will say...it is hard to limit to one of these things, but I will!

1. In your opinion, what is the best translation of a book to a movie?
High Fidelity - I thought while it was Americanized, it was adapted well and John Cusak was the perfect person for the part. About a Boy also comes in a close second...something about those Nick Hornsby books.

2. The worst?
In Her Shoes - They made the Cameron Diaz character far too sympathetic, and the Toni Collette role far too shrill. Plus, the dog walking storyline was very important in the book, and made the rest of it make more sense, than in the movie. The movie kind of glossed over it.

3. Had you read the book before seeing the movie, and did that make a difference? (Personally, all other things being equal, I usually prefer whichever I was introduced to first.)
With very few exceptions, I like the books better. Sometimes, like with Circle of Friends, I think of them as separate entities. Certain things have to be dropped for a movie, but, when done well, it can be rather seamless. This doesn't happen that often. The first Bridget Jones is one where I liked the movie better, because in the book she is really someone I want to smack.

2 comments:

Betty Carlson said...

High Fidelity is pretty successfully adapted -- but I still prefer the book in order to try to conjure up the songs in my head!

Kathleen said...

Great answers. Come see mine: http://smsbookreviews.blogspot.com/2007/07/booking-through-thursday_12.html