It's enormously different. Both in actual events, story, characters and their actions and also in the overall tone is a
-
Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Terms of Endearment
wiggityp — 9 years ago(June 19, 2016 12:30 PM)
It's enormously different. Both in actual events, story, characters and their actions and also in the overall tone is a big departure from what I, at least, was visualizing while reading the fantastic book by Larry McMurtry.
Everything from Jack Nicholson's character being made up for the movie in favor of the other suitors that Aurora had in the book to the timeline being all screwed up (they didn't move to Nebraska/Iowa until the very last part of the book).
The tone in the book is also much more thoughtful and romantic than the movie's melodrama which IMO made it a lot less enjoyable.
This movie really feels so much more like a James L. Brooks creation than a Larry McMurtry one and ultimately it sort of ruined it for me. I think Mr. Brooks is great and really enjoy his other films and of course the Simpsons is solid gold but all the changes he and the producers (presumably) made to the film adaption I thought really took away from the magic of the book.
It would be a very tough book to adapt in a literal fashion. Much of the charm of the book is reading through the eyes of Aurora and hearing her thoughts about her suitors. I think that Peter Bogdanovich was much more successful in adapting McMurtry's books "The Last Picture Show" and "Texasville" which were very similar in style to Terms of Endearment as far as the books go.
I think that Terms of Endearment was overall not a bad movie by any means and I wish I had seen it before reading the book, but I wonder if anyone else was as disappointed as me about the unfaithful adaption from book to film? -
Keely — 9 years ago(August 05, 2016 07:55 PM)
I totally understand your reactions. I actually didn't read the book till after I saw the movie so it wasn't exactly disappointment for me, but I was surprised at how different the book was. I think not having read the book first was a factor in my enjoying the movie as much as I did, because even with its awkwardness and faults, I still end up watching it almost every time I catch it on TV. But then again, being so familiar with the movie probably prevented me from assessing the book in a fresh way and being able to get on its wavelength. Did you read Evening Star, the sequel? What did you think of that?