Review of Of Mice and Men (1992) by Rob T — 14 May 2013

A beautiful, emotional, but sort of heavy handed drama. Gary Sinise directed and acted in this movie with obvious care for the preservation of the original novel.

I always go into a directorial debut with a certain level of uncertainty, but when the director is an actor that is more evident. So I was unsure about this movie going in, but Sinise did a fine job. I never like to compare the director of an original to the director of a remake, but Gary Sinise actually did a better job than Lewis Milestone with the 1939 film adaptation. Now, even though the original film is obviously very dated, I just didn't care for how romanticized the original film felt. It still grasped the emotion of the novel, but this adaptation really grasped the realism and grit of the story without the romanticism.

A fascinating centerpiece of the story, and also the reason so many people forget that Gary Sinise is even in the movie, is the character of Lenny. John Malkovich is one of the most devoted and authentic actors alive right now, and he did everything right with Lenny. Too many times when we think of onscreen portrayals of mental illness we think of the extreme "I Am Sam" performance when we should think of things like this. John Malkovich embraced the simplicity of Lenny as well as the innocence, but he also embraced the complex parts of Lenny, and put those into play to make a genuinely incredible performance. This is something that I don't think Burgess Meredith really grasped.

Overall, I loved this movie, and it's a shame that John Malkovich and Gary Sinise didn't get more recognition for the incredible talent displayed both onscreen and behind the camera.