Every Nick Hornby Movie & TV Adaptation - Ranked From Worst To Best

Nick Hornby is a seminal British writer and one of the most influential artists to ever capture the spirit of these isles. People love Hornby for his cheekiness, his self-aware nature and ability to capture both the despair and hilarity of human life - and as a result many of his novels were easily adapted to great film and TV.

People love reading Hornby books, people love making them and people love watching them. Throughout the late 1990s to early 2000s there was a slew of great and popular Nick Hornby film adaptations but it didn’t stop there, the 2010s have seen a continuation of Hornby love and reminds us every time why his stories are magic, even when what’s on screen isn’t great.

There are some absolutely classic Hornby films, and some where the source material is barely legible behind what’s on screen. Despite this, even with some questionable adaptations, Hornby still remains one of the best authors Britain can claim as its own.

A Long Way Down is a special Nick Hornby book. It centres around four individuals who by chance all meet each other on the roof of a building as they intend to commit suicide, the story follows their reasons why and subsequent pact to leave the roof unharmed.

The main problem with the film version is that you don’t for a second believe that they’re there to commit suicide. A Long Way Down stars Pierce Brosnan, Toni Collette, Aaron Paul and Imogen Poots as the individuals who make it down from the roof and each of them admittedly acts it well. Like Hornby’s style allows, the characters are able to have fun in their roles while dealing with hard issues, however the screenplay is instead written by Jack Thorne and lacks a certain vibrancy to the dialogue and critically, humour.

Simply, the film doesn’t work, you don’t believe in it and it misses the heartfelt mark. Hornby’s original novel is hilarious, yet melancholic and the film fails to recreate what the story is all about.