A few days after my recent post about my unread books, I decided it was high time to actually tackle some of the books on the list. It was late at night and I didn't think it was the right time for something like Jane Eyre, so I picked up The Other Boleyn Girl. I had been promised cheesiness, and that's exactly what I got. And I enjoyed every decadent moment of that delicious cheese.
I majored in history in college, and have always enjoyed historical fiction (insert mandatory shout-out to The Pillars Of The Earth by Ken Follett). One of my most treasured childhood books was about King Alexander III of Scotland and his granddaughter, the Maid of Norway. I used to wish that time travel was possible so that I could go back in time to all of my favorite time periods and witness everything firsthand. So while The Other Boleyn Girl was silly, fluffy, and probably not all that accurate, I had a great time while reading it and got quite caught up in it. I rushed through it in two days and experienced that all too common feeling of euphoria and sadness that one experiences when they finish a book quickly.
Soon after I finished the book, the Army Man brought home the movie version for me to watch (he's sweet that way). We watched it 2 nights ago, and I barfed in my mouth a little while I watched it. It was one of the worst. movies. ever. I love (love!) Natalie Portman and do not care for Scarlett Johansson one bit, but none of that matters since it was horrible. Horrible. Bad acting, not true to the book (which I'm sure the Army Man got tired of hearing me say), and overall it just wasn't a compelling story. It managed to be pretty engaging on the page, but not so much on the screen (I'm tempted to insert a "lost in translation" joke here. Whoops, I guess I pretty much just did).
I'm sad I subjected my eyes to that movie, and I'm bitter because it is threatening to take away the enjoyment I received from reading the book. So I post this in the hopes that I can save even one person from a similar fate. If I can, then I will not have suffered in vain.
While we're on the subject, will I ruin the glory that is Atonement if I watch the movie?
7 comments:
Bill hates watching movies based on books that he has read (there are a few exceptions). I enjoyed the Series of Unfortunate Events books and was so disappointed in the movie because it was a big ole mess. I was planning on checking out The Other Boleyn Girl after I read it, but I may skip it now that I have your review ;o)
Atonement was terrible. The only good thing about that movie was James McAvoy. I read The Other Boleyn Girl. Thanks for the warning about the movie.
- she's the one
Thank you for the review, always good to know if the movie is worthy of the book.
I never read The Other Boleyn Girl, but I didn't care for the movie at all. But I did enjoy both the book and movie Atonement. The director took a few liberties, but maybe you can distance the movie from the book. Watching right after reading always ruins it for me, i.e. Twilight.
Uh oh, differing opinions on Atonement...I have purposefully avoided it in the past so maybe I will just continue on that course for now.
As I told Natalie, there really aren't a lot of movies based on books that I've liked, except the Harry Potter movies. I even had a hard time enjoying the film version of To Kill A Mockingbird since the girl playing Scout was NOTHING like what I had imagined. So I'm pretty picky.
Don't you just hate that when you read something so great and then the movie just spoils it for you?! I've been putting off seeing a bunch of movies that I've already read for that very reason!!
I watched Atonement...it wasn't too bad ...James McEvoy was fantastic as usual!
I just watched Twilight and UGH! I was bored to tears! Loved the books, the movie...not so much...
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