Review of Misery (1990) by Brandon H — 28 Feb 2011

I have to admit I enjoyed myself. It's entertaining enough. But isn't it a little exaggerated? Isn't the direction a bit too in-yo-face when Kathy Bates has a tirade, for instance? The camera swoops in for a close up, the lighting behind her goes dark, the lighting in front of her gets brighter, the angry music swells, etc. Was it just me, or did the film hardly give Kathy a chance to do this all on her own? She could have handled the character well enough without this melodramatic help. Anyway.

My other beef is that perhaps our protagonist writer doesn't have quite enough personality to stand up to Bates on the screen. Who is he? What does he like to do? The most we find out about him is when the sheriff and the hotel clerk discuss the author's quiet, reserved, polite demeanor at the lodge. The film forces him to act phony most of the time, so we hardly get a chance to see who he really is.

It's a functional thriller. Bates truly turns in a one-of-a-kind, work of art character, worthy of its iconic status. The tension is certainly there from start to finish, and it rises, as it should. I mean really I should be giving props to Rob Reiner for transforming a piece of writing by Stephen King into a watchable film. Not many have done that.