Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

What we're reading

Find your new favourite book or recommend one on our Book forum.

So, am curious, what are your WORST film/book adaptations?

120 replies

steamedtreaclesponge · 25/08/2009 15:49

Following on from the other thread, what are the most disappointing film adaptations you've seen?

Renee Zellweger as Bridget Jones made me want to gouge my own eyes out with a fork. And it's not even one of my favourite books.

OP posts:
Comewhinewithme · 25/08/2009 15:51

PS I love you ...was awful.

Gloria42 · 25/08/2009 15:51

I don't think I've ever watched a film adaptation that I liked more than the book! No matter how good it is, it's never exactly like I imagined it.

Really didn't like Captain Corelli tho..

steamedtreaclesponge · 25/08/2009 16:04

Oh, I agree about PS I Love You - I didn't see how it could be any worse than the book, and yet it was...

OP posts:
GoldenSnitch · 25/08/2009 16:09

AI - they completely ruined the book! Even changed the ending from something that made sense to that weird alien thing!!

llareggub · 25/08/2009 16:11

The Dark is Rising made me very cross.

Dogshitsonthedailymail · 25/08/2009 16:11

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

sherby · 25/08/2009 16:14

Twilight was rubbish

Dogshitsonthedailymail · 25/08/2009 16:15

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

GoldenSnitch · 25/08/2009 16:15

Oh and I adored reading I am legend but have yet to watch the film without falling asleep. Am told it would make me angry though

ConnorTraceptive · 25/08/2009 16:23

Michael Crichton's Time Line was a terrible film makes me soooo cross that they fucked it up

steamedtreaclesponge · 25/08/2009 16:34

Actually, I quite liked Twilight

I thought the Dark Is Rising would probably be rubbish, and I couldn't bear to watch it in case it ruined the books for me!

Ditto Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day. Such a lovely book, and watching the trailer was enough for me to decide I was NEVER EVER watching it!

OP posts:
bluebump · 25/08/2009 16:35

The Beach. I loved the book, I did not love the film.

TwoIfBySea · 25/08/2009 18:47

I prefered the book ending to Captain Correlli but of course they would have to Hollywoodise it.

steamedtreaclesponge · 26/08/2009 11:29

Well, God forbid you could have an ending that's less than perfectly schmaltzy!

OP posts:
JeffVadar · 26/08/2009 17:15

Agree whole-heartedly with Captain Corelli. Adored the book, but the film was just wrong in so many ways!

Also, Bonfire of the Vanities...

HumphreyCobbler · 26/08/2009 17:17

The Golden Compass

GibbonInARibbon · 26/08/2009 17:28

Interview with a vampire

Tom Cruise as Lestat?

MermaidSpam · 26/08/2009 17:30

I'm with you on PS I love you.
Donnie Brasco made me want to throw things at the TV
But the worst of all was "Just like Heaven".
It was the film version of one of my fave books ("If only it were true") and really, really sucked. They lost all the feeling of the book and tried to turn it into a comedy! FFS!

Dogshitsonthedailymail · 26/08/2009 21:20

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

GibbonInARibbon · 27/08/2009 08:27

Many years ago I read the first 3 books in the chronicles and really enjoyed them. In my experience a film never lives up to one's expectations when a book has captured the imagination so

BalloonSlayer · 27/08/2009 09:31

Can I vote for any screen adaptation of Jane Eyre? Because they just can't get the simple idea that:

  • Jane Eyre is physically unattractive
  • Blanche Ingram is physically beautiful

And if you can't understand that one of the main points of the book is that it has a plain and insignificant heroine how the hell can you make a decent adaptation?

RealityIsNOTDetoxing · 27/08/2009 09:37

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

Bettymum · 27/08/2009 09:52

I thought the film of the Kite Runner lacked all of the emotional and dramatic tension of the book. I watched it on telly and switched off half way through.
BEST adaptation though I think was Jude the Obscure with Christopher Ecclestone. Wonderful. And I thought the film of The English Patient was better constructed than the book.
Mermaid I didn't know Donnie Brasco was a book. I love that film! Makes me cry at the end.

tots2ten · 27/08/2009 09:59

Along came a spider I could not get into the film at all.

angelene · 27/08/2009 10:00

Catch 22 was AWFUL AWFUL AWFUL - I remember seeing it at middle school after the book made a big impression on me and was soooooo disappointed.

Agree about The Beach as well.