Review of Slaughterhouse-Five (1972) by Lafe F — 30 Aug 2007

I've never been a George Roy Hill fan. Both Garp and The Sting let me down, considering the kind of praise they each received, and this, an adaptation of one of Vonnegut's best works, had my hopes higher still.

However, I'm sad to say that he once more dropped the ball here. The biggest problem is the lack of a narrative: The novel succeeds in how the writer uses such a simple rhetoric, and throws conventional story telling out the window, which is what gives the whole thing a comedic tone, despite some of the the catastrophic events he writes about.

Without that voice leading you through, the movie's tone is all over the place. The director and the actors seem to think that it's a very sad, reflective drama, with very little soundtrack and allegorical dialogue, but the script has such bizarre moments that taking this approach leads to sheer puzzlement on the part of the viewer.

Perhaps with a higher budget and a narrative running through it (As opposed to simply assuming everyone's read the book) this might well be a trippy classic, like it's ink and paper cousin.