Misery
Academy Award × 1·National Film Registry
Rent/Purchase
After an accident, acclaimed novelist Paul Sheldon is rescued by a nurse who claims to be his biggest fan. Her obsession takes a dark turn when she holds him captive in her remote Colorado home and forces him to write back to life the popular literary character he killed off.
What critics thought
A lean, well-crafted Stephen King adaptation that succeeds largely on the strength of Kathy Bates's Annie Wilkes — a performance that became the definitive screen psychopath of its era. Critics who loved it pointed to the sustained dread and sharp screenplay; those cooler on it saw a slick but somewhat mechanical studio thriller that never quite transcends its source material.
“it is a good story, a natural, and it grabs us”
Roger Ebert·Chicago Sun-Times
“a very obvious and very commercial gothic thriller, a functional adaptation of the Stephen King bestseller”
Variety
“a genuinely funny performance as the mad Annie, as gaudily written in Mr. Goldman's screenplay as it is in Mr. King's novel”
Vincent Canby·The New York Times
“plays enough tricks on us so that we don't ever treat anything quite seriously and Goldman's script has enough good lines and situations to keep one interested in exactly what is coming next”
Derek Malcolm·The Guardian
Genres
Drama, Thriller
Cast & Crew
DirectorRob Reiner
StarringKathy Bates, James Caan, Richard Farnsworth, Lauren Bacall, Frances Sternhagen
ComposerMarc Shaiman
Misery
Academy Award × 1·National Film Registry
After an accident, acclaimed novelist Paul Sheldon is rescued by a nurse who claims to be his biggest fan. Her obsession takes a dark turn when she holds him captive in her remote Colorado home and forces him to write back to life the popular literary character he killed off.
What critics thought
A lean, well-crafted Stephen King adaptation that succeeds largely on the strength of Kathy Bates's Annie Wilkes — a performance that became the definitive screen psychopath of its era. Critics who loved it pointed to the sustained dread and sharp screenplay; those cooler on it saw a slick but somewhat mechanical studio thriller that never quite transcends its source material.
“it is a good story, a natural, and it grabs us”
Roger Ebert·Chicago Sun-Times
“a very obvious and very commercial gothic thriller, a functional adaptation of the Stephen King bestseller”
Variety
“a genuinely funny performance as the mad Annie, as gaudily written in Mr. Goldman's screenplay as it is in Mr. King's novel”
Vincent Canby·The New York Times
“plays enough tricks on us so that we don't ever treat anything quite seriously and Goldman's script has enough good lines and situations to keep one interested in exactly what is coming next”
Derek Malcolm·The Guardian
Genres
Drama, Thriller
Cast & Crew
DirectorRob Reiner
StarringKathy Bates, James Caan, Richard Farnsworth, Lauren Bacall, Frances Sternhagen
ComposerMarc Shaiman
Rent/Purchase