Movies wherein the book was NOT better than the movie
List them.
Inspired by Christina’s comment on the Jesse James movie thread. I can only think of one and some may not agree: Fight Club. The movie was much better than the book with a considerably more satisfying ending.
Are there any others?
Comments
high fidelity.
hehehehe. and i agree with fight club. fuck that book.
a clockwork orange
forrest gump most definitely. that book is FUN so so wildly ridiculous that you say “oh come on!” as you’re reading it. but by no means “good.”
i would also say the virgin suicides. i love the book, but the movie was infinitely better. so underrated. i just watched it last week. it’s been on showtime a lot.
i could add a few more, but i’m leaving work now. and if you haven’t read the book, you can’t comment! that’s no fair and makes no sense. jus’ sayin…
Runaway Jury, if only because gun makers fit the plot better than tobacco makers.
As for Cusak, meh.
Also the Rules of Attraction. Not that the book or movie were particularly good, but “It’s Dick!”, and Van der Beek socking Jessica Biel were fantastic.
christina said:a clockwork orange
NO. WRONG.
Requiem For A Dream was a great book but it was not better than the movie which was also great. And I say this as someone who likes Hubert Selby enough to have done my Masters thesis on him and his work.
And while it wasn’t a straight adaptation, Short Cuts was a phenomenal movie based on an o.k. collection of short stories.
I agree with Christina on Clockwork Orange. Not that the book was bad, but the movie is amazing.
Fucking Dune.
Fight Club. Mostly because I guzzle pure Haterade for Chuck P.
Brooke said:Fucking Dune.
Fight Club. Mostly because I guzzle pure Haterade for Chuck P.
Chuck Pedano? I saw him in real life last weekend.
i’m not sure i can do this. if i liked a movie, i most definitely liked the book and because i love to make worlds in my mind, books always take precedence. in some cases i loved the book & the movie equally. examples are the aforementioned Fight Club, Papillon, The Neverending Story, Harry Potter & the ______, the Lord of the Rings trilogy & many Philip K. Dick adaptations (which covers just about every sci-fi flick you have ever seen).
nevermind that. Philip K. Dick’s original stories are ALWAYS better than their adaptations.
the only one i can MAYBE think of is American Psycho because the film was far less maddening to experience. but that was the whole point of the book, so it’s almost not even fair.
actually, without having read the books i’ll venture to say the Twilight movies smash their printed counterparts.
No Country For Old Men. Good book, classic film.
Strange,Seconds before I ready Mandy’s comment I was just thinking the opposite to her, regarding Phillip K Dick stories/movies. In fact a lot of short stories make amazing films. I think because the actual story is laid out more like a script. Bladerunner and Minority Report are two good examples.
I always preferred to watch Pappillion over what is a damn good book, I am starting to reconsider this after reading and watching both very recently.
And whilst I have not read the book I reckon that if I did read ‘Where the Wild Things Are’ I would still prefer the film – but purely because i may not appreciate the book so much reading it as a non-kid.
The Manc said:Strange,Seconds before I ready Mandy’s comment I was just thinking the opposite to her, regarding Phillip K Dick stories/movies. In fact a lot of short stories make amazing films. I think because the actual story is laid out more like a script. Bladerunner and Minority Report are two good examples.
i’m still on the fence. he’s just about my favourite author and also the one most adapted. i guess i do enjoy both equally.
The Manc said:Strange,Seconds before I ready Mandy’s comment I was just thinking the opposite to her, regarding Phillip K Dick stories/movies. In fact a lot of short stories make amazing films. I think because the actual story is laid out more like a script. Bladerunner and Minority Report are two good examples.
That’s really funny. I was just thinking about this post in the shower and the idea of Blade Runner came to me; I recently viewed the Final Cut version and while watching was on the lookout for extra similarities between it and the book.
The conclusion I reached was that the two are different and cannot be compared for the purpose of this exercise. While Blade Runner is great, it’s not really a true adaptation; it leaves out a lot of things and only hints around the idea of mechanical animals, the idea that was the namesake of the book. The feel of both are completely different with, to me, different morals.
Sadly, I haven’t read Dick’s Minority Report. That was just a short story in a collection, right?
I think the best comparison for our purpose would be A Scanner Darkly. I remember hearing that it was the closest adaptation anyone’s ever done for a Phillip K Dick book, and having read and seen it I can see why. Unfortunately, this movie/book comparison has its own red herring: Keanu Reeves. I don’t mind saying I liked both the book and the movie about equally. Pressed, I think I’d rather watch the movie, if only for the sake of expedience and Robert Downey Jr.
The other book/movie I considered in the shower was Wonder Boys. I fell in love with the movie long before reading the book (idiot). I think I’d rather watch the movie*, but I concede I think they’re about equal.
*I have a crush on Robert Downey Jr.
Great call on American Psycho, Mandy. That book was unreadable to me.
I was going to suggest Out Of Site, but after I thought about it, the book and movie are of equal awesomeness, the reason being the movie is almost word for word the book.
What about the movies based off of Stephen King short stories? Shawshank Redemption….Stand By Me…..I’d even say that while I like most of his books, that the Shining was better than the book.
I usually find it’s whatever I’ve done first. So, if I’ve read the book first, I’ll like the book better. But if I saw the movie first, then tried to read the book, I’ll like the movie better.
With the exception of “A Clockwork Orange” because I just couldn’t wrap my head around the dialogue.
I’ll tolchock you in the gulliver, me droogie.
Kevin said:What about the movies based off of Stephen King short stories? Shawshank Redemption….Stand By Me…..I’d even say that while I like most of his books, that the Shining was better than the book.
i was thinking that. shawshank and stand by me specifically. i think it’s hard to make a decision on book vs. movie when it’s a short story. i really do love a lot of stephen king books and movies. the shining is a hard one, since it’s very different movie than book. i dunno if that’s a stipulation however.
i checked out some blogs after talking about this and saw “atonement” on there a lot. fuck the ending to that movie was awful.