Spooktober: Misery

Misery
Directed by: Rob Reiner
Starring: Kathy Bates, James Caan
Released: 1990

While I'd known of this movie through references for years I'd never sat down to watch it. I was pretty sure it would appeal to me, but it's just one of those movies that I never went out of my way for. I was a fool.

Really, this movie is a love story. Kathy Bates plays a crazed fan of a popular author played by James Caan. He crashes in a blizzard, and wakes up under her care, his legs broken. She tells him she is his biggest fan and that the roads and phones are currently out. While this keeps up for a while eventually she reveals that she has not contacted anyone about where he is, and that if anything happens to her, he will never be found.

Bates is far and away the star of this one. Her ability to gracefully shift between insane tirades and true caring for this man is just perfect. She reads the final book in her favorite series written by Caan and flips out on him proclaiming that the main character cannot die here. This leads to her forcing him to destroy his next, unrelated novel, which he has poured his soul into, and write yet another sequel in his long running series he has grown tired of. The situation escalates as he slowly discovers more about Bates past, and as a police officer refuses to give up looking for him when the rest of the world considers him dead. The finale, on paper, sounds like a rather pathetic climax, but in actuality it plays out fantastically. The struggle between a crippled man and a less than intimidating woman is surprisingly intense.

Stephen King has an unfortunate track record when it comes to his books and stories being adapted to film, but this one knocks it out of the park. Aside from The Shining, this is probably my favorite adaption of his work that I've seen. For anyone who enjoys seeing a person's normal facade crack and reveal their true unhinged intentions this is absolutely a must see. Kathy Bates really manages to hammer home just how much she cares for James Caan's character, and especially his work. If nothing else, watch this for some of the best crazy person quotes.