EW list 23 book adaptations that sucked!

By Matt Holmes / June 30, 2011

It's extremely hard to please everyone with a book adaptation, especially if the literary source material is so rich and has a massive fanbase. It's a near impossible task actually with so many failing miserably each and every year but isn't it fascinating to note that in IMDB's Top 250 movies, only 4 of the top 10 are original screenplays. The Godfather, The Godfather Part II and The Shawshank Redemption hold the top three spots - all literary adaptations. Here are 23 movies which EW believe were butchered by their cinematic reinvention...

1) THE GOLDEN COMPASS - haven't seen 2) THE DA VINCI CODE - I think this gets a bad rap. It's not a great movie but it's exactly like the book - the same almost camp esque, ridiculous feel, the fast paced nonsense but also the easily to watch and a highly entertaining history lesson. I enjoyed the book and the film even if they were both like digesting a McDonalds. Tom Hanks and Audrey Tautou though had no chemistry - Hanks was badly mis-cast. 3) FEVER PITCH - That's the U.S. version of Nick Hornby's memoirs. I love the book - one of my favourites actually about how obsessive mentality over your favourite sporting team of choice is something you can get so close to that it can often mean the world to you but then nothing to you at the same time. The Colin Firth late 90's British adaptation is pretty decent if not quite the book. Never seen this version though. 4) MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA - My girlfriend loves the book and enjoys the film, though she admits it isn't as good. Again, I haven't seen it. 5) A SOUND OF THUNDER - I shall go one better here. I've never even heard of this one! Ben Kingsley apparently starred in this adaptation of the Ray Bradbury novel about a time portal which sends a group of U.S. military back into the prehistoric dinosaur age! Peter Hyams (End of Days) directed. 6) TROY - Have you seen the extended cut of Troy? It makes it that 15% better a movie and for me probably turns the tide between a fully disappointing film and a decent adaptation. Yes it was tragic they cut out the Gods, but there was a lot of good stuff in this flick - though Brad Pitt was awful here. 7) BRIDGET JONES: THE EDGE OF REASON - Not really my thing and neither was the original. Please don't make a third! 8) VANITY FAIR - Haven't seen it, despite Reese Witherspoon in a corset. 9) THE HUMAN STAIN - Bit of flat adaptation of a Phillip Roth novel but it was well acted - Nicole Kidman and Anthony Hopkins are solid. 10) THE CAT IN THE HAT/HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS - Double entry and they both suck. No doubt. 11) THE RULES OF ATTRACTION - I actually enjoyed this movie quite a bit. Sure it's no American Psycho but it most definitely carries that Brett Easton Ellis self deprecating tone. It's a good movie. 12) PLANET OF THE APES - I enjoyed some depictions of the Apes, I thought Tim Roth was incredible. That's about all the good things I can say about this movie. 13) PROZAC NATION - Never seen it. 14) THE MUSKETEER - Another Peter Hyams movie. So bad, I actually forgot of it's existence. 15) EYES WIDE SHUT - Love this movie! 16) BICENTENNIAL MAN - Brilliant idea for a movie - terrible execution. 17) SIMON BIRCH - Never seen it but I remember the author John Irving completely attacking this film during it's release. Guess it's bad then. 18) SPHERE - Part of a movement of late 90's terrible space drama's which included Event Horizon, Alien Resurrection and...yes... Starship Troopers. 19) THE SCARLETT LETTER - Never seen it. 20) THE BONFIRE OF THE VANITIES - Early signs that Brian De Palma was loosing his touch. 21) THE RUNNING MAN - A little harsh maybe. 22) THE COTTON CLUB - Never seen it. (Yes there is no 23, remember there was two movies listed at 10) I would like to add a few more. Danny Boyle's awful adaptation of the marvellous Alex Garland novel The Beach... the adaptation of King's Dreamcatcher was shocking (though I did enjoy the friendship depicted through it's main leads) and the 2002 adaptation of The Time Machine - which is better left forgotten. Care to add any more, or disagree with any of the listings above? Surely The Rules of Attraction, The Running Man and especially Eyes Wide Shut don't deserve their place on that list?