The Book

I agree with Grandma. I really don't understand how anyone who was a fan of the book could like this movie. The movie's just so goofy while the book was really kind of serious and passionate. But the worst thing to me about this movie is the casting choice of Todd Sparow - just horrible.

And this movie, combined with The Smokers, New Best Friend, Happy Campers, Tart, Pumpkin, Intern, etc have collectively succeeded in convincing me that any indie movie Dominique Swain is in, is total crap.

This is one of my all-time favorite books - i read it in 1995, and didn't know there was a movie version until 6 months ago. i found one video store in my town that had it. i wish they hadn't.
the book had a completely different feel to it. the character of andrea marr is one of the most realistic portrayals of a modern high school girl that i've ever seen, but she came out as cookie-cutter and flat in the movie. I'm not saying Swain did a bad job acting - i think it was more the script she had to work with.
rrussell19, i agree with what you said about andrea and sex. the book shows a young woman who wants to know what real love feels like, and sees Todd (little as she really knows him) as someone who could show her. i didn't this at all from the movie, though.
i'll give it that it had an interesting cast. Swain always seems to be in movies with good casts but terrible scripts...

I probably would have liked the movie more than I actually do had I not read the book first. I've read the book a million and one times and love it every time as though I've never read it before, but the first time I read it was about a million years before there was even a notion to do a movie. So when there was word of the movie being made my friends and I (a friend got a messed up copy of the book that had the first chapter printed twice in a $3 bin somewhere in uppper WI and we all read it and tortured it to the point it fell apart by the time we had all read it) had all these preconceived notions as to how it would be and we were so wrong when we finally saw the movie. I think my main problem with the movie was that the book spanned a good amount of time and the movie was like 6 months trying to jam pack a bunch of crap in and leaving out a lot of the major details. For instance, in the book, Todd Sparrow was THE guy. Cybil was obsessed regardless of her lesbianism (which was also a big part of the book), Andrea was obsessed, ect. which made them all catty. Andrea was also awkward and had big issues with being a groupie (denial). Now, when I watch the movie I just pretend it has nothing to do with the book and then it doesn't wreck anything I imagined from the book. Also, I haven't read the book in a while, but I am fairly certain it is mentioned that Andrea Marr is a brunette, like the girl on the cover of the book. I think Carla was dark haired as well.

"In just seven days, I can make you a man"

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