Books v Movies and "Endless Love"

[deadmoviestar]

I read a truly phenomenal book just recently and I'm surprised to say that it's Scott Spencer's "Endless Love," the very same "Endless Love" that inspired one of the worst movies and one of the worst songs of all time. I'd read another Spencer book, "Ship Made of Paper," that was pretty good but, having seen "Endless Love" in high school, I just

Comments

[alanpartlow]

I agree with all of the above, but I've never seen, or read Endless Love. I'll give it a chance. By the way, I'm currently reading Cormac McCarthy's The Road and highly recommend it.

[transistorblast]

Neighbors - Thomas Berger's very funny, low key novel of dark humor is turned into a tone-deaf comedy. Now, the idea of casting John Belushi and Dan Ackroyd and having them switch character types wasn't a bad idea. Hiring noted non-comedy director John J. Avildsen was. Eek.

I'm tempted to suggest Stephen Spielberg's Empire of the Sun - except the first 40 minutes (or so) of the movie captures the spirit of J.G. Ballard's novel perfectly. Once the story moves to the prison camp - well, then it falls apart (though Christian Bale is excellent. John Malkovich is good, too, except he isn't really playing the character, Basie, that Ballard created).

I'm pretty sure I read (and really enjoyed) The Scarlet Letter at least twice before I made it to college.

[deadmoviestar]

Neighbors! Of course. I love that book, which I read last year. I saw the movie when it came out and was mystified, and recall very little of it. Looking back, the casting and the tone just seem outrageously at odds with the book itself.

Empire of the Sun had enough moments to merit exclusion from such a list, though. It doesn't flatter the book or anything, but it's not execrable.