home news sports culture ideas up-to-date

You are viewing
Volume 38 Issue 7
December 12, 2000

To return to the current issue please click here.

Plot, interest lost in book-to-film transition

REVIEWS WITH ATTITUDE
MESA LEGEND
Submitted December 12, 2000

Many people who read the novel "Pay It Forward" by Catherine Ryan-Hyde, were inspired by the story of an optimistic boy named Trevor, who used kindness to change the world.

Trevor was inspired by his teacher, Rueben St. Claire, to start a chain of human kindness, where favors are traded like currency – one favor is paid forward with three favors for other people.

It starts in Trevor’s small California town and soon reaches throughout the globe as crime and gang violence become a thing of the past and the world literally becomes a better place.

That sounds like it would make a great movie, doesn’t it? Well, it didn’t.

Unfortunately, Denzel Washington wasn’t available to play the part of Rueben St. Claire.

Since director Mimi Leder is obviously oblivious to the many other capable and talented African-American actors, she cast Kevin Spacey, the only available Oscar-winner, necessitating a complete revision of the character by screenwriter Leslie Dixson.

Dixson also changed or eliminated virtually every other character, moved the setting from California to Las Vegas and severely diminished the accomplishments of the main character, Trevor.

Instead of changing the world, Trevor’s "pay it forward" movement reaches as far as L.A. Wow, from Las Vegas to L.A.!

The worst violation Leder makes is her mishandling of the tragic ending. While the novel contains the same ending, readers are aware from the beginning what is to happen, and after the tragedy is gently played-out, there are two chapters remaining to give both the reader and the characters in the story time to heal and to leave the story with the sense of optimism that is at the very core of the plot.

However, Leder drops the tragedy on the audience with the same sensitivity as the Unibomber and within minutes rolls the credits, leaving the audience empty and asking, "What are they trying to say? Should we reach out and help others or not?"

In 1995, director Pat O’Conner showed us what happens when a novel written by a female is turned into a screenplay written by a man.

The film version of author Maeve Binchey’s "Circle of Friends" came courtesy of screenwriter Andrew Davies, who obviously didn’t appreciate Binchey’s well-developed characters, as he eliminated all but four of them.

And while only one female character in the book is involved in a sexual encounter, the only evidence of which is a pregnancy, all the characters in the movie are one-dimensional, sex-obsessed teenagers.

Fans of the novel were undoubtedly angered at the unnecessary sexualization of their beloved favorite characters, but Davies’ biggest offense is his change of the ending, in which Benny takes back her boyfriend after he cheats on her with her best friend, thus eliminating any sense of self-respect that was so triumphantly displayed in Binchey’s novel.

Hollywood, please take note: If your going to butcher everything meaningful in a novel, don’t bother making it into a movie.

Tammy Jarvis is the copy editor for the Mesa Legend and a journalism major at MCC.

Back to Top | Previous Page | Home