Review of Misery (1990) by Kenneth L — 11 Aug 2011

This movie is an exemplary psychological thriller. It's also one of the best Stephen King adaptations ever - not as good as Stanley Kubrick's The Shining, but then almost nothing is. The tension builds over the course of the movie beautifully, it's well-directed, it's genuinely scary, and it has a truly great, deservedly Oscar-winning performance by Kathy Bates.

The premise is simple but unique and memorable: a novelist (James Caan), who has created a series of not-very-good novels centered around a character named Misery, has decided to kill the character off in the novel he's about publish, and has also just finished writing a serious novel. Immediately after finishing the novel, though, he crashes his car in a blizzard, is rescued by a lonely nurse (Kathy Bates), and finds himself trapped in the nurse's isolated mountain house. It begins to become apparent that the nurse is not mentally healthy, but what can he do with two broken legs? He's trapped, and the movie goes from there.

Kathy Bates is just incredibly, mind-blowingly creepy as the nurse, Annie Wilkes. She hides domineering tendencies under a folksy surface, but can't always hide the fact that she is deeply disturbed. Bates's performance allows the character to go from funny to pitiful to terrifying, sometimes very quickly, and without feeling forced. She's just a great movie villain. James Caan also does a very good job with what must have been a challenging performance, as he spends the entire movie confined to a bed or wheelchair. The movie also takes the trouble to make the obligatory sheriff character (Richard Farnsworth) and his wife (Frances Sternhagen) funny and worthwhile characters in their own right. But really, this is Kathy Bates's movie all the way, and she's amazing.

There's only so much visually that director Rob Reiner could do with a movie that rarely leaves the house, but it looks fine. The cinematography holds up well. The musical score is decent, if a little over-obvious in parts. The climax was particularly nerve-wracking and exciting, not because it's spectacular at all, but just because we're so invested in the characters by the time we get to it. In a way, this is textbook thriller movie-making, but done just about as well as it possibly can be.