Geena Davis wrong as Muriel


I know. I know. She won an Academy Awards for the role.
But the character is written completely different than her portrayal.

When Porter Leary berates Macon about his relationship with Muriel, I couldn't help but think "They're talking about Geena f*#king Davis".
EVERBODY makes Muriel sound like an old, ugly hag who eats cat food... even Macon.
OK she's got the gimpy kid, but the comments were obviously meant to convey many more problems with her than that.

Other than one user comment, nobody seems to have notice this.
At the very least, they could've "ugly" her up a little.
A bit more crazy juice could've help too.

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I know what you mean. Geena Davis is a beautiful woman. If shes ugly then what is handsome?

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I don't think they meant she was ugly, but not a "good catch", since she had no money and the brother suppose she was only aiming to marry him. Good movie but a bit slow anyway.

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No No No
I disagree wholeheartedly.
First, I don't think he was filthy rich.
Second, the undercurrent of hate points to much more than marrying him for the money.
She HAS to have a deficiency much more than a quirky nature and a gimpy kid.

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She was great as Muriel.

And the family criticized her because they are conventional to a crippling degree and therefore can't comprehend and assimilate a person like Geena Davis' Muriel. They don't consider her ugly and undesirable. They consider her incomprehensible.

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mikeclaw has it spot on.

And I just finished the book, and to boldly state that Geena Davis's portrayal is totally different from how it's written is absurd. She absolutely nailed that character as Anne Tyler wrote her.

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'But the character is written completely different than her portrayal.'
And I just finished the book, and to boldly state that Geena Davis's portrayal is totally different from how it's written is absurd.
There's a misunderstanding here.
I don't know the book.
I ain't talking about the book.
Maybe the book describes Geena Davis to a T.
That's not what I was saying.

Geena Davis is Geena Davis.
Her character is happy, fun-loving, compassionate and a little quirky.
Is that how the other characters describe her?
Is that how the other characters react to her?
That's the writing I was refering to.
Sorry for the confusion

And the family criticized her because they are conventional to a crippling degree and therefore can't comprehend and assimilate a person like Geena Davis' Muriel.
That's actually the only way I could see this movie working.
Macon and his family are completely disfunctional.
Muriel is the normal functioning one.
However, I didn't get that intention from the film.
Maybe William Hurt was too subtle to be completely disfunctional.

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I agree with the OP. Geena Davis was absolutely wrong for the role. Muriel was not that. She was an extroverted oddball/quirky character as opposed to Macon's introverted, uptight, completely dysfunctional personality. She was not meant to be a beauty. Even a blind man would be attracted to Geena as Muriel no matter how wierd she was. The character needed a Hillary Swank type, a marginally attractive type. I can't think of an actress from that era. I think Hurt's brillant performance was completely upstaged by the public's love affair with the adorable Davis who was totally miscast.

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There are a couple of things to consider here.

First, they went with Kathleen Turner as Sarah so the actress playing Muriel has to be at least in the same league otherwise it becomes a distraction.

Second, The film tried its very best to show that the Leary family was dysfunctional. Macon mentioned a number of times that only reason that Julian came around was to see what oddball behaviour the Learys would be displaying on that day. The alphabetizing of the food and the card game were pretty good clues as well.

Finally, as was mentioned before, Geena Davis was made to play Muriel. It really felt like Ann Tyler was describing Geena when talking about Muriel.

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@mikeclaw

Eh... I feel they were just being codependent & selfish & none of them wanted their siblings to move on or the family dynamic to change in anyway. Nobody wanted the sister to fall in love because they 'needed' her to continue being their mother. Macon came back in their lives after the separation, living at the house, and Muriel was a threat to that reunion. Incomprehensible, yes, but entirely codependent, selfish & sick.



IMDB Film Ratings: http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=22271274

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Exactly. She could have been the most beautiful and "rightest" woman in world for Macon, and they still would have advised him to forget her. It had nothing to do with her. I've always thought the script was crystal clear about that.

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unfortunately they could not make Geena Davis ugly if they tried....she is awesome and I really wish she would do more movies than she does....

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I disagree that Geena Davis was wrong, and I think your reaction could be echoing Macon and his family's reaction to her and might even prove that she was a good choice. Actually I think Kathleen Turner was the one who was miscast. I just can't picture their marriage. She's too glamorous as someone Macon would marry and fall into a rut with, and too strong as someone who once needed Macon. She got billing over Geena Davis even though her role was smaller because they were capitalizing on the Body Heat connection. I would have liked to see what Dianne Wiest or Debra Winger would have done with that role.

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I too am in disagreement with the OP that Geena Davis was wrong as Muriel. Think of some of the other actresses they were thinking about casting as Muriel, like Jessica Lange. No way! She's way too pretty, in a conventional sort of way. I would never have bought Lange as the strange quirky Muriel. Geena Davis got it right, and that's not to say she isn't pretty.

Yeah, I think what you said about Kathleen Turner is spot on too. Too glamorous, too strong. Hard to buy her as being married to Macon. I didn't think her performance was outstanding either. Especially if you watch her very first scene in the kitchen when she informs Macon she's leaving him, she sounds pretty wooden really.

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