Review of Girl, Interrupted (1999) by Robertobrien — 14 Jul 2015
Despite it's amazing performances from all of the cast members, after reading the novel, this movie is not an insult to the novel, but an insult to the real life Lisa Rowe. They made her out to be a cold-blooded and harmful person, and also made it so that Lisa was the reason another character commits suicide.
None of that ever happened in the book. And because the book is based off real people, it's even worse. Angelina Jolie's performance is great, and the movie is able to avoid most of the cliches that movies about mental illnesses have. But I find it difficult to look past it's horrific misinterpretations of Lisa Rowe and other real life people.
As a fictional story, the film works, mainly thanks to all the amazing performances by Angelina Jolie, Winona Ryder, Clea Duvall, Angela Bettis, and the late Brittany Murphy. But it's a terrible rendition of Kaysen's novel and an even worse rendition of the real life people.
But similar to Stanley Kubrick's The Shining, though it fails as an adaptation, it works very well as a stand-alone story. Despite how much I harped on this film, I do really like it. It just loses points for what it made these people out to be. I'm not saying this movie is on par with a Kubrick film, because it's not. But before, and even after I read the novel, I thoroughly liked this film.
This review of Girl, Interrupted (1999) was written by Robertobrien on 14 Jul 2015.
Girl, Interrupted has generally received positive reviews.
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