Pah

Rating: 5/10 (10 September 2001)

Adaptations of novels are rarely very good. This one feels more like a betrayal. Nick Hornby's novel is a marvellous and truthful tale of what it's like to be a man in the 20th/21st century. John Cusack's Rob Gordon is hardly recognizable as the same character. Admittedly the Americanisation doesn't work, but it isn't just geographical transition from North London to Chicago that causes me so many frustrations it John Cusack's complete lack of identification with the character he plays. Throughout the film it's unignorably evident that he's playing a role and it is impossible to believe that he IS that character.
I once read an article which referred to John Cusack as one of the most gifted actor's of his generation. Well, MAYBE I'd cast him in a school nativity but only as a minor role.