The Cider House Rules Review
by "David N. Butterworth" (dnb AT dca DOT net)January 5th, 2000
THE CIDER HOUSE RULES
A film review by David N. Butterworth
Copyright 1999 David N. Butterworth
***1/2 (out of ****)
While screen adaptations of John Irving's novels have been disappointingly uneven, the films have all shared one particular strength: key casting. Who can forget John Lithgow as Roberta Muldoon, the transsexual quarterback of "The World According to Garp," or Nastassja Kinski as Susie the Bear in "The Hotel New Hampshire"?
A lot of good casting decisions have gone into the making of "The Cider House Rules," an adaptation of Irving's poetic 1994 novel about a restless young man called Homer Wells.
Among those sound judgments was the decision to have the splendid Tobey Maguire assume the pivotal role; the decision to cast Michael Caine as his mentor and father figure, Dr. Wilbur Larch, the ether-addicted head obstetrician of the St. Cloud's orphanage, Maine; and the decision to offer Jane Alexander and Kathy Baker supporting roles as his head nurses.
Then there are the brethren who populate the apple orchard where Homer Wells finds himself shortly after leaving St. Cloud's, including Delroy Lindo, Oscar®-worthy as the foreman of the migrant work detail that drifts up and down the coast as the seasons take them. There's Kate Nelligan as the matriarch of the cider house, and Charlize Theron as Candy, the lovely, lonely wife of a WWII bomber pilot (Paul Rudd) sent away on a mission overseas leaving Candy to set lobster traps with Homer Wells, a man who's never seen the ocean before let alone a lobster.
Am I forgetting anyone? Yes. Kieran Culkin and Paz de la Huerta as dissolute orphanage residents who make you sit up and take notice every time they're on the screen.
But with "The Cider House Rules," the good people decisions don't end with the cast. Irving has written his own screenplay in order to get it right this time (last year's "Simon Birch," loosely based on his "A Prayer for Owen Meaney," was a big-screen example of Irving handled sub-standardly); the author appears fleetingly as a stationmaster here. Rachel Portman, a composer of such sweet and lyrical tenderness, provides a score that's absolutely right for the project--sweet, lyrical, and tender. There's impressive New England photography by Oliver Stapleton too.
Last but by no means least is "My Life as a Dog" director Lasse Hallström, who shows enormous skill in pulling this collective together and helping bring Irving's marvelously touching story to life. For the many beloved who pass away in "The Cider House Rules," it's an extraordinarily life-affirming story. And now, thanks to these talented individuals, it's an extraordinarily life-affirming film.
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David N. Butterworth
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