When you love seeing movies almost as much as you love reading books, you’re bound to be at least a little disappointed when the two forms intersect.
Is the movie ever as good as the book? Generally, no.
There are a few exceptions, though, most recently including “In Her Shoes,” the movie based on a Jennifer Weiner novel that opened Friday.
I’m a big fan of Jennifer Weiner books, because they are better than your average chick lit.
Weiner’s female characters are stronger and more substantial than the women in other books, who are looking for love to solve all of their problems.
The book version of “In Her Shoes,” the tale of two sisters–one hot, one smart–who must overcome their insecurities together, is one of my favorite works of Frazzled Female Fiction, my pet name for chick lit.
From the moment I saw the preview for the movie version, I eagerly anticipated its release.
In these situations, I try not to get my hopes up, as I’ve been let down before.
My favorite chick book, Maeve Binchy’s “Circle of Friends,” was butchered in the 1995 movie version starring Minnie Driver and (sigh) Chris O’Donnell when he was still really, really hot.
The movie’s producers committed the worst atrocity of adapting a screenplay: They made the main characters, who clearly do not belong in a romantic relationship in the book version, stay together.
Let me tell you, I’ve read “Circle of Friends” 17 times, and I will never forgive Jack Foley for cheating on Benny Hogan. Why did the producers think it was a good idea to have such a strong female character go back to a cheater?
When I watched the movie, I got so mad that I started yelling at the screen and called my best friend to complain.
I feared this might happen with “In Her Shoes,” but, fortunately, when I saw the movie Saturday, it was one of those rare gems that makes you feel as happy as you did reading the book, like “Bridget Jones’ Diary” or the Harry Potter flicks.
I never pictured Cameron Diaz as the flaky sister, but she did a great job. It didn’t feel hokey, either.
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Sure, the male characters were much more sensitive and caring than men are in real life, but that’s why we read these books and see these movies, right?
I left the theater with same warm, tingly feeling I had when I read the last page, which is as it should be.
For those of you who also struggle with the great book versus movie debate, here are some of my other favorite adaptations. In general, I like it better when I see the movie first.
“Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood”: The movie with Sandra Bullock is fun, but the detailed characters in the novels will blow you away. Read the preceding book, “Little Altars Everywhere,” before you read “Ya-Ya.”
“Animal Husbandry”: I loved the movie “Someone Like You,” with Ashley Judd and Hugh Jackman, and I watch it on DVD when I have a bad day. They committed the atrocity with the love story, but because I saw the movie first, it bothered me less.
“High Fidelity” and “About a Boy”: The Nick Hornby novels are awesome movies, which is surprising since these are two of the best contemporary books in existence. Plus “High Fidelity” was filmed in Chicago, which is cool.
“The Hours”: The book is artsy and twisted, and so is the film.
“Kiss The Girls”: OK, so I’m a huge Ashley Judd fan. I’m not apologizing. The James Patterson book was suspenseful, and I couldn’t sleep after I saw the movie because I was so scared.
If you’ve got your own list of good book-movie combos, e-mail me at
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