I finished reading "Theophilus North" today, and saw there was a film version, so I watched it.
I'm not sure whom to blame for the mess: Three screenwriters worked on this: Janet Roach & John Huston and James Costigan. I'm guessing that the original screenplay followed the book as much as possible of its 400 pages, then another scribbler came in to "punch it up" as a comedy. So we get snatches of the original, plus scenes not in the book (including a ridiculous boy-meets-girl at the very end). It doesn't work as it stands, a would-be riotous comedy about a man with "electric hands."
The rest of the blame must go to director Danny Huston. He lets Robert Mitchum do nothing but read his lines, HD Stanton get away with a poor British accent, and allows the likes of M Metcalf and T Grimes to overindulge.
I won't say "the book was better," because this movie mercifully changed the title, so it bears only passing relation to Wilder's book of a longer name.
I'm not sure whom to blame for the mess: Three screenwriters worked on this: Janet Roach & John Huston and James Costigan. I'm guessing that the original screenplay followed the book as much as possible of its 400 pages, then another scribbler came in to "punch it up" as a comedy. So we get snatches of the original, plus scenes not in the book (including a ridiculous boy-meets-girl at the very end). It doesn't work as it stands, a would-be riotous comedy about a man with "electric hands."
The rest of the blame must go to director Danny Huston. He lets Robert Mitchum do nothing but read his lines, HD Stanton get away with a poor British accent, and allows the likes of M Metcalf and T Grimes to overindulge.
I won't say "the book was better," because this movie mercifully changed the title, so it bears only passing relation to Wilder's book of a longer name.