Such a great book, such a horrible movie. This one is bad on the scale of the badness of the Keira Knightly in the latest Pride and Prejudice, and for the same reason - terrible casting. Gillian Anderson plays Lily exactly wrong in every way. Lily is a very light, self-contained character. Anderson plays her in this very heavy, overly enunciated, slow-speaking way that irritates me with every sentence. Why does she TALK like that? Every sentence takes twice as long as it should. And the heavy sobbing and yelling at the end - good Lord! Did she even READ the book? Lily would never have done that. Lily was like a butterfly; Anderson is like an elephant.
Lawrence Seldon was similarly miscast; I would never have picked Eric Stoltz. Not that Seldon was a somewhat deep character - Stoltz has nothing to him. He's a total lightweight. And Dan Ackroyd! Where did HE come from? The aunt - another one who talks in this totally unnatural, stilted way. Ugh, I barely sat through it the first time in the theater, and just now on free cable I couldn't stand more than five minutes. Read the book. It's light years better than this mess. I don't know who cast this movie, but s/he should be fired.
Lawrence Seldon was similarly miscast; I would never have picked Eric Stoltz. Not that Seldon was a somewhat deep character - Stoltz has nothing to him. He's a total lightweight. And Dan Ackroyd! Where did HE come from? The aunt - another one who talks in this totally unnatural, stilted way. Ugh, I barely sat through it the first time in the theater, and just now on free cable I couldn't stand more than five minutes. Read the book. It's light years better than this mess. I don't know who cast this movie, but s/he should be fired.