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Lack of good storyline.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Misery is either a case of a film being slightly outdated, or just built up too highly for me to thoroughly enjoy this Stephen King classic. Well-acted, tightly written and directed, but not nearly as memorable or terrifying as it was made out to be. Perhaps that's an unfair criticism, but expectations almost always factor into how enjoyable the film will be.Misery may very well be King's simplest film, taking place in mostly one setting, and only dealing with a few characters in total, but it sure seems like it's one of his more personal stories. James Caan plays a famous author, Paul Sheldon, who is "rescued" by his number one fan, Annie Wilkes, who turns out to be a little more devious and cruel than a typical fangirl. Not having read anything about King's original story, I don't know how much of this can be based (even in the slightest) on a true story. I know King was never captured by a fan and tortured in inexplicable ways, but there has to be some level of personal touch King is putting to this story. At the very least, this is a major fear of his.In that regard, Misery is brilliant, especially for a 21st century audience who are obsessed (and as connected with social media) with their celebrity crushes more than they ever have been before. The sheer obsession that is in Annie's mind (wonderfully played by Kathy Bates) is the crux of the story and is undeniably memorable. But I was honestly expecting the insanity to be even more over-the-top. Maybe that's just pop-culture's infatuation of Bates' creepy portrayal clouding my judgment, but it's true.In all, there's plenty to like in Rob Reiner's direction, the score, iconic performances, and various other tidbits of Misery, but I can't help but feel a little letdown by the overall intensity of the execution. I'm still waiting for that big moment to happen. It never came.7.0/10

Misery is without a doubt one of the finest movies of the 90's and one of the best movies in the thriller genre. In my opinion Misery is one of the better adaptations of Stephen King's works and truly a movie that cannot be missed!Paul Sheldon (James Caan) is the author of a successful series of romance novels about a character called Misery, who decides to take a more serious approach regarding his future novels. On his way to publish his new manuscript, Paul drives from his hotel in Silver Creek to New York. Due to the extreme weather conditions, he has an accident that leaves him severely injured and hopeless. A local nurse named Annie Wilkes (Kathy Bates) finds Paul and brings him to her remote home in order to help him recover. Claiming to be his number one fan, Annie discovers that in his last Misery novel her favorite character dies and then her obsession about him takes a dark and twisted turn as a long story of captivity and abuse begins.The direction by Rob Reiner is phenomenal and on a hitchcockian level as the film has a plethora of perfectly crafted suspenseful moments that have the audience on the edge of their seats from the beginning till the amazing climax. The editing of the movie is also flawless, as the shots are specifically designed to induce tension in any moment they can. The cinematographer and Reiner both ace the perilous atmosphere of the picture, using close up shots of the moonfaced Wilkes both in her fits of rage and kindness which magnifies the polar extremes that Wilkes is prone to unexpectedly visit. What is also triumphed is the slow convergence of the audience and Paul Sheldon.The movie received a lot of critical acclaim, especially due to Kathy Bates' chilling and memorable performance as Anny Wilkes that earned her the 1990's leading actress Oscar award, which remains the only Oscar ever given to a Stephen King film adaptation. No matter how great Kathy Bates' Oscar-winning performance is, James Caan's cannot go unnoticed as it definitely qualifies as one of the best performances in his extensive career, despite how demanding and challenging his role as Paul Sheldon was.In conclusion, Misery is a dark and tense masterpiece which succeeds into creating the feeling of captivity and helplessness that the thriller genre was purposefully built for, and that makes it one of the best movies of the 90's and one absolute classic in its genre.

Rob Reiner once said after watching Stanley Kubrick's "The Shining" (1980) he was inspired to make a movie based on Stephen King's work, and four years after he directed "Stand by Me" (1986) he prepared himself for directing this movie by watching every single film by the legendary "Master of Suspense" himself Alfred Hitchcock. As the film opens we see a very famous novelist named Paul Sheldon (James Caan) drive his car in a snowstorm to his publishers' office to take a look at a novel in his "Misery" series that he had just finished but he never gets there because he's in a snowstorm and rolls down a hill covered in snow while still in his car, he then is bleeding with a bunch of cuts and broken bones on him. Sheldon is then dragged out of his car and rescued by his self-proclaimed #1 fan who is a licensed nurse named Annie Wilkes (Kathy Bates) who takes care of him and nurses him back to health. During the next few days Sheldon's agent Marcia Sindell (Lauren Bacall) is very suspicious as to where Paul Sheldon is and then tells the local sheriff (Richard Farnsworth) to help find Sheldon and get the book published. As the film progresses we see that Wilkes is getting crazier and more psychotic in every single scene she is in and holds Sheldon hostage while mistreating him because she didn't like the latest and unpublished addition to his series of "Misery" novels as well as going so far as to burn all of the pages and make him write another book just so she can like the revised edition that he is being forced to do, and Sheldon is doing anything he can possibly think of to stay alive. I won't spoil anything else beyond this point in the review because I feel that the scenes after the climax are way too important to spoil. Reiner and his screenwriter William Goldman are very effective with the suspenseful dialogue, and Reiner's frequent composer Marc Shaiman's score only heightens the suspense all they way to a Hitchcockian level. The performances from both Caan (who gives his best performance since "The Godfather" (1972)) and Bates (who won an Oscar for her performance, which was well-deserved, and the best performance of her career) are top notch, and Bates' portrayal of Wilkes is one of the best portrayals of a psychopath that I've ever seen, which is on par with Anthony Perkins in "Psycho" (1960), Anthony Hopkins in "The Silence of the Lambs" (1991), Piper Laurie in "Carrie" (1976), Robin Williams in "Insomnia" (2002), Heath Ledger in "The Dark Knight" (2008), Jack Nicholson in "The Shining" (1980), and Christoph Waltz in "Inglourious Basterds" (2009). It is movies like this that prove that Rob Reiner is a directorial chameleon because he can make a good movie out of anything that is given to him, for example a courtroom drama like "A Few Good Men" (1992), and a children's movie like "The Princess Bride" (1987). This isn't the best movie that I've seen based on Stephen King's work but it's pretty darn close to it.

I had a landlady in college who would sit down each day and write letters to the characters who appeared in her soap operas. Seriously, she would give them advice on their romantic encounters and their faux pas. So when I saw Kathy Bates going crazy with her captive, James Caan, it wasn't hard for me to make the leap to the actions of a psychotic, not seeing an actor for an actor. Bates is amazing in this movie in the sickest way possible. She just can't understand what is going on. The problem is that she is utterly dangerous, murderous. Of course, this is Stephen King, so we know there are Bates types around every corner. I felt, as I watched this play out, that I was punishing myself. What else could she do to him without killing him. The only other movie I felt this way about was the top horror movie of its year, "The Passion of the Christ," where Mel Gibson used every torture device and weapon to beat on Jesus's body before he was crucified. Anyway, I would warn anyone that has not seen this film to be ready for their own misery.