Review of The Whole Wide World (1996) by Afzal S — 07 Jun 2008

This was a low-key film on TV that slowly worked its way into my appreciation on an afternoon some years ago. Films take lots of interest in the lives of writers, but there is a tendency to sex-up their lives, giving them simplified 'arcs', and thereby try to make up for the lack of surafce action (after all writers are called writers because they spend much of their day sitting at their desks, daydreaming and only occasionally pushing their pens).

Thankfully, the Whole Wide World avoids the gilding, simplifying Hollywood Treatment, and prefers to pursue the idiosyncratic life of Robert E. Howard (played fittingly by D'Onofrio) from the more faithful viewpoint of his love, small-town teacher with big ideas, Novalyne Price (also played fittingly by the then unknown Zellweger), as taken from her later account. This means Howard is in no conventional sense an idealised 'hero', and his highly imaginative writing is shown to be central to his life, not a side-issue as is the usual case.

This approach does lead to a meandering, unresolved film, more suited to the smaller, real life-based situations of TV, in one sense; but I also believe the film's faith in its thoughtful, nuanced screenplay, and the charismatic chemistry between the leading actors ultimately pays dividends. Howard's marginalised background, obsession with his wilful and needy mother, and battle with his mental health are explored with care and sympathy, but also without sentimentality or melodrama.