Warning: Spoilers ahead….
I’d read and quite enjoyed the book. The commercials looked good, the casting was great. It seemed they’d captured the feeling of the book. I was really looking forward to seeing.
Of the people I viewed the film with, both the people who had read the book and the people who hadn’t hated this film!
I was fine with most of the deviations from the book, I know they have to cut stuff and rearrange things. (Some minor things that bothered me: I wish they had kept in the part about BR having kidnapped him. And, I thought it was more effective for him to discover he didn’t want any more cigarettes rather than have the doctor order him to stop smoking.)
However, the complete about-face of the ending RUINED the entire film.
I felt the point of the book was to show him reconsidering why he does this for a living and turn his talent for spin “to good”. However, the movie has him continue on in successfully spinning lies/propaganda for evil.
Why on earth would you make this film and not show the growth of the character that the book does? I thought this was the very point of adding the kid subplot and the only reason I tolerated it. It effectively showed the kid becoming manipulative like him and I thought when he turned to his son in the court and thought about what he was doing to him and teaching him, he would have an epiphany and change.
What was the point of changing it? Was this considered a more “realistic” ending. Well, I’d rather have him redeemed and likable – as in the original story.
Especially given our current climate of constant lies and spin from corporations, the government and the media, it would have been nice to see that manipulation examined and shown to be wrong, not glorified with a triumphant end for the spin-meisters.
The ending of the book was not to make this an issue about “free choice” or a message about “parenting” (Was this SUPPOSED to be ironic that he talks about responsible parenting while clearly turning his kid into a manipulative clone of himself?) The point I got was to think about what you are doing and the impact you have on others around you.
I have not seen a worse movie adaptation in a long time! I am very angry at the jerks that decided to pervert the entire point of the book!
AVOID THE FILM. Read the book. It’s twisted but funny. The satire is there, but also a message.
5/10 because I loved the acting (except Katie), the satire and for the rest of the film up to the false ending. The ending deserves a 1.