the fresh films reviews

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The Door in the Floor (2004)

Director:
Tod Williams
COUNTRY
USA
GENRE
Drama
NORWEGIAN TITLE
The Door in the Floor
RUNNING TIME
111 minutes
Producer:
Anne Carey
Michael Corrente
Ted Hope
Screenwriter (based on the novel "A Widow for One Year by John Irving):
Tod Williams


Cast includes:

CHARACTER ACTOR/ACTRESS RATING
Ted Cole Jeff Bridges ½
Marion Cole Kim Basinger
Eddie O'Hare Jon Foster
Ruth Cole Elle Fanning
Alice Bijou Phillips ½
Evelyn Vaughn Mimi Rogers ½

 

Review

Dysfunctional relationships and unconventional sex are familiar topics throughout John Irving's authorship. The latest adaptation of his books, Tod Williams' The Door in the Floor, largely follows the path laid out by George Roy Hill in The World According to Garp and has some of the same fascination: witty observations and studies of characters with charm and peculiarity, but who are miserably inapt when it comes to communication and dealing with everyday life. Jeff Bridges gives a useful performance as Ted Cole (the macho version of Garp, if you like), but the material, as adapted by Tod Williams hasn't got the necessary force, and his direction is largely directionless. Scenes that seem interesting from an isolated point of view pass across the screen as a liquid, irrelevant bulk. Even potentially edgy scenes like the ones between Basinger and Foster seem almost trivial. Jon Foster's unexpressive acting must take quite a bit of the blame. Rarely has a pivotal coming-of-age character, who as customary has so many potentially potent scenes to develop in, been acted or presented in a more unessential manner. As the primal protagonist, you'd expect Williams to use him to underline the film's moods and emotions, but these characters are too flat and uninspired to elevate this film into something truly interesting.

Copyright © 22.2.2008 Fredrik Gunerius Fevang

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