came here to write exactly this! The quality of acting and script just doesn't do the book justice. Hunter S. Thompson had far more luck with his book adptations.
To extend on that, I have several technical issues with the movie.
First of all, I get the feeling, that the general tempo is off. The order of the book is neglected, which negate the subtle changes in Hank's character, that are supposed to happen.
Second, the mood is always gloomy, never fun. Only few scenes show the dark, dirty humour hidden in Bukowski's writing style. The movie takes itself far too serious and becomes quite lofty.
Third, this may sound weird, but not enough brutality is shown. Or maybe not realistic enough by choosing to not show any blood or excrements. Remember that the book is set in the middle of WWII. The world is a dark place, where the strong survive and the weak get trodden on and die. Hank is what he is, because he is a survivor in this world.
Fourth, Hank's inner dialogue is not narrated often enough. And when it is, especially in the end scene, it simply summarizes what just happened, not his inner conflict.
Concerning the content:
For a script, that draws all of its dialogue from the book, the movie misses the original atmosphere. Essential scenes are left out, that show Hank in his prime. He is only depicted as a complete failure. It is not shown how he receives the check for his first sold story (only his mother opens it), *beep* the three girls on the boat or beats the record for fastest braking in cab driving school. And to me the dialogue seems far too slow, making Hank's witty banter while negotiating jobs or getting a check look very weak.
The point is, that he could and sometimes did very well in his job, but chooses to succumb to alcohol or sex instead of complying to a boring life of adaptation. Only in the end he is truly unable to perform any job, as he loses the love he found and his grip on reality. At the end, symbolically he is also not able to get an erection, which is never mentioned.
This discrepancy between Hank's once promising abilities and his will to not put them to any good use, is what makes the book work and what is miising in the movie.
Through all the drunkenness and *beep* if you read between the lines of the novel, you find one of the most sincere and real characters. But sadly NOT in this movie!
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maturity
9 years ago
Disagree. I felt all the actors were believable and not stereotypical movie drunks. They had the same weary way of talking and tight movements as Mickey Rourke from Barfly and the real Charles Bukowski (watch the documentary Born Into This). The book was episodic and the changes don't make much difference. I liked the scenes with Manny (Fisher Stevens) best. Those are almost verbatim from the book except they changed his work place to a bike shop - I think it was the auto parts shop in the book. Having it during the war only has relevance to a few scenes and people today would not relate to it as war service is much less common - like 1% of the population has served overall.
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