Seen: August 7th, 2007
Format: DVD
Rating: 5
Yeah, I read the book. And it was OK. There's nothing there that you can't find in at least a dozen other places, but it does a decent job of breaking it all down and folding it into a parable that's easily digestible by the modern drone.
Not that it's particularly nutritious.
The film suffers a little from compression. Ten months fly by and we really miss a lot of Dan's progression during that time. It all seems a bit miraculous, instead of being the result of simple determination and will. This tends to dilute the whole message a bit.
Casting is a bit of problem here. I like Nolte well enough, but this role doesn't seem to suit him. His performance lacks the good natured humor required, and instead comes off superior and sardonic. While his actions are correct, the attitude that goes along with them seems a bit too self-satisfied. This may be a writing or directorial issue, but regardless, it prevents the film from gelling.
Mechlowicz does a decent job here. I never pictured Millman as quite this shallow when reading the book, but I guess that it's entirely possible. Dan is written a bit all over the place. There's always something dramatic happening in his life. While a full range of emotion is there across the arc of the film, I felt that we were always swinging from one to another. I again wonder what the reason for this was.
Amy Smart is pretty much wasted in this film, which is a shame.
There's really not much else to say here. The story really won't surprise you, even if you've not read the book. There's a few cool, koan-like moments, but for the most part, it all proceeds in pretty much the way you'd expect. If you've seen The Karate Kid, you already know the basic plot. It's a more serious, mature and grounded, and attempts to get some fundamental concepts across, but basically it's nothing unexpected.
Basically, this is a straightforward piece of pop spirituality. It attempts to convey a whole bunch of big ideas by a simple and autobiographical parable. It does the book justice, but comes up a bit empty when compared. If you haven't got the patience to read the book, then I guess this will have to do.
I seem to be in a rut of mediocre films lately, hope it breaks soon.
The Good: Pop spirituality for the masses
The Bad: Lack of humor
The Ugly: Hypocrisy
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