One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest Film Critique

Rating: 6/10 (21 December 2011)

I feel that the film ineffectively uses the two techniques of characters and acting. When the movie first started the only three characters I could recognize right away were Patrick McMurphy, Chief Bromden, and Nurse Ratched. After viewing the film for two days it still took me awhile to figure out who was who in each character. Billy Bibbit was easy to identify by his stutter, but Harding was hard to distinguish. It took some time to see which character was who.
The characters' acting was not that great in my opinion. McMurphy's actor was very thin and didn't look built enough to play that character. His temper towards Nurse Ratched was perfect though. Chief Bromden was the main character who's actor fit him perfectly. Aside from being an Indian man the actor was great at keeping quiet through the film and also his body structure fit the character. Nurse Ratched in my opinion was to calm and didn't react to some of the situations in the film like she did in the book. She was also described in the book differently than what her character looked like in the film.
I would recommend both the book and the film for anyone. I really enjoyed the book. It starts off slow, but it is worth it when you get to the end of the novel. The film was also enjoyable. It contain a lot of humor and fit the book pretty well. There were minor differences in the movie that weren't in the book, but it makes the film more interesting. If you do decide to read the book, you should see the film as well.