Review of Hearts in Atlantis (2001) by Minya A — 15 Sep 2012

"Stand by Me" meets "The Fury". It's a classy production all around, but the story meanders and lacked a clear focus. I felt it should have chosen to be either a coming of age tale about Hopkins mentoring young Bobby Garfield or it should have been about Hopkins being in hiding and on the run for mysterious reasons.

However, the film is held together by excellent performances all around (I particularly liked Alan Tudyk in a pre-Firefly one scene role) and memorable scenes sprinkled throughout. The odd combination of wonder years nostalgia and elements of more typical Stephen King supernatural intrigue make the film unique, it still doesn't quite all come together.

It's not a bad film but it feels like a missed opportunity for something that could have been great.