As great a movie as Misery is, it’s overall quality seems to flow from two things:
- William Goldman’s adaptation of Stephen King’s novel; and,
- The performances.
The one thing it’s overall quality doesn’t flow from:
- Rob Reiner’s completely bland and uninteresting direction.
I mourn the loss of the movie this would have made had somebody with a flair for the material – i.e. Brian Depalma – directed it instead of wasting his time on crap like The Bonfire of the Vanities.
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Even the best actors can give terrible performances in a movie that poorly directed. You have to give the director credit.
I’ll grant he didn’t stand in the way of a great performance. Kathy Bates has always been a great actress and I’m more apt to give her the credit for her performance, not Rob Reiner. My ultimate point remains unchanged.