Sunday, June 18, 2006

Derailed


When the novel DERAILED by James Siegel came out, it caused a minor stir. Some readers loved it, some hated it. I came down sort of in the middle, thinking that the book had a couple of major flaws but also finding some things to like about it.

So I was willing to give the movie a try, and somewhat to my surprise, I found that I liked it quite a bit. This is one of those cases where the screenwriter put his finger on the problems that plagued the novel and fixed them, straightening out the confusing structure of the book and completely eliminating the one over-the-top plot development that made a lot of readers, myself included, want to heave the book across the room. I thought before seeing the movie that Jennifer Aniston was miscast in her role, but actually she did a more than okay job. So what we have here is a nice little thriller with a very satisfying ending that probably deserved to be more successful than it was.

2 comments:

Carl V. Anderson said...

Haven't decided if I want to see this or not but I have to say that Clive Owen is one of my absolute favorite actors. I really enjoy him in every movie I've seen him in.

Flip Dixon said...

My problem with DERAILED (which I enjoyed overall) is that the major "twist" of the book is something that your average suspense reader will spot a mile away.

Still, I read the book in one sitting, so you have to give him credit for writing a page-turner.