Consummate yuckster Rob Reiner takes Stephen King’s worst nightmare made manifest–an author held captive by a mentally unstable killer who perpetually reiterates that she is his “number one fan”–and crafts one of the most taunt thrillers in the last half of the twentieth century. Unfortunately, King does nothing of substance with the material and, instead, opts to focus upon the depleting scenario, that–under typical acting–would lose its wind midway through the film which, thankfully, is otherwise kept afloat by Kate Bates’s Academy Award-winning performance and Reiner’s direction.
Shortly after completing his first serious effort at fiction after killing off the heroine, Misery Chastain, in the soon-to-be published final chapter of his highly popular historical romance series titled Misery, Paul Sheldon (James Caan) departs from his Colorado hotel en route to his editor in New York. However, in the midst of a blizzard, Paul has an accident and is saved from death by Annie Wilkes (Kathy Bates), an obsessive fan who has been following him since his arrival in town. She takes Paul back to her home, a secluded farmhouse, and begins nursing him back to health. When Paul awakens, Annie relates that both of his legs are broken, the roads are closed, and that the phone lines are down. As Paul patiently awaits returning to civilization, he permits Annie to read his newest work. Disapproving of his new shift in subject matter, that is, non-Misery material, Annie forces Paul to burn the manuscript and begin composing a new work, titled Misery’s Return, after reading the recently released final chapter in the pulp series. As he conforms to her wishes, Paul comes to realize that Annie has a murderous past and that she does not intend to ever permit him to leave.
Given that King wisely removed himself from explicitly horrific subject matter early in his career, opting instead to focus upon horrific circumstance, it is little surprise that the tension in Misery is masterfully created and sustained under the screenwriting pen of William Goldman, whose Marathon Man serves as a litmus to the suspense genre still today. However, a taut plotline needs the assistance of substance to make it more than a mere thrill ride. Sadly, in typical King style, pathos reigns supreme throughout as he permits the door of opportunity to close upon him as the potentially intriguing themes of literary fanaticism, editorializing, and critical appraisal are allowed to anonymously pass by the wayside with little consequence.
That said, Kathy Bates’s swansong in her portrayal of Annie, atop Reiner’s surprisingly controlled and restrained direction, maintain the otherwise flaccid plot as we are kept in an uncomfortable proximity to Annie’s face as she stares into the camera with what we are at first lead to believe to be the blank stare of incomprehension before Bates sallies forth its true basis in being: a crippling distain and hatred for a world which didn’t accept the character long after her loneliness gave way to psychosis even before she knew of her captive author.
Goldman does an excellent job of retaining Annie’s offbeat diction and trademark euphemisms which are so convincingly delivered by Bates that they usurp standardized vulgarity and profanity, leaving the viewer with a resounding sense of disconcertion as our equilibrium is kept slightly askew via Reiner’s very admirable gift to project a consistent mood of unease throughout.
Equally impressive is the irony and black humor of the piece, which is well placed and never gratuitous, unlike most adaptations of King’s works. A consenting nod is forced by Reiner as Paul’s singular attempt at escape is foiled by mere circumstance moments before Annie toasts to Misery. Indeed.
Unfortunately, the hallow plot, though well presented, nonetheless suffers at its climax as Reiner consents to horror cliché in the form of a trite last gasp from a deader-than-a-doornail character which, though he is working outside of his genre league, the moment is inexcusable considering how well the director had triumphed with the preceding material.
Rob Reiner, a king of comedic direction, does a very admirable job of setting to the screen one of more plausibly fear-evoking plots in Stephen King’s horror canon. Regrettably, though well shot, acted, paced, and presented, the filmmakers place too much emphasis upon style and subsequently failed to posit any form of meaning within the work. Luckily for the production company, Kathy Bates issues one of her greatest performances as Annie Wilkes, making the film entertaining nonetheless.
Conversation piece: The role of Paul was also rumored to have been offered to Jack Nicholson, William Hurt, Kevin Kline, Michael Douglas, Harrison Ford, Dustin Hoffman, Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Richard Dreyfuss, Gene Hackman, Robert Redford, and Warren Beatty.
-Egregious Gurnow
- Interview with J.R. Bookwalter - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Andrew J. Rausch - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Rick Popko and Dan West - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Director Stevan Mena (Malevolence) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Screenwriter Jeffery Reddick (Day of the Dead 2007) - January 22, 2015
- Teleconference interview with Mick Garris (Masters of Horror) - January 22, 2015
- A Day at the Morgue with Corri English (Unrest) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Writer/Director Nacho Cerda (The Abandoned, Aftermath) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actress Thora Birch (Dark Corners, The Hole, American Beauty) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actor Jason Behr, Plus Skinwalkers Press Coverage - January 22, 2015
