This never happens... but I enjoyed a movie better than the book - honest. I'll admit, I tend to be a sucker for the New York Times Best Seller list - aren't we all? You hear the most about them and they're easy to get your hands on - you always know someone who's read them and is happy to hand it off. And so they circulate through your group of friends... and it seems like these days every single hit novel is turned into a movie, so you go to see it with said girlfriends.
I went to see it after work one evening with two gals from the office. I must tell you - I have discovered a great date night - if only MR and I ever spent an entire evening to ourselves in our home town. We're usually rushing from dinner alone or with our families to meeting our friends - it's always exhausting fun and we feel guilty not spending the time with them since he's not home very often. But I digress - one day we will do this! So the new Kenwood movie theatre is across from the mall and right next to Dewey's pizza (my fav & MR has never been!) and Orange Leaf, which is similar to Yagoot but a billion times better. There are 10 flavors of soft serve that change often. You fill your cup, mix and match flavors, then sprinkle on your toppings at the little bar and squirt on a variety of sauces and they weigh your cup. It's fun to build your cool concoction and it's rather inexpensive - and very delicious. Not to mention, the calorie count isn't too bad as far as ice cream goes. So - dinner, ice cream, movie. How perfect? And this theatre is fabulous - they have sushi from Embers, desserts from Frieda's bakery, you can bring anything in and they have a selection of flavored salts to put on your popcorn - caramel, jalapeno, parmesean garlic - I'm generally not a popcorn fan but I had to try a bite of Sid's with that stuff sprinkled on it!
Back to the movie... I read "The Help" a few years ago. It may have been my first year out of college, when I read at least 20+ books at my own leisure. I enjoyed the book but I wasn't rivoted as the people I talked to seemed to be. When I was younger I was always enthralled by the Civil War and the Antebellum south so it was really interesting to see the next generation of culture after chattel slavery was abolished. Even on a Tuesday night, the theatre was full - mostly women - and the entire room laughed, cried and sighed together - which made it a really involved experience. I also loved the involvement of the Junior League since I just joined and to see how it's changed and grown. Also, the product placement was neat to see - all the vintage packaging is pretty cool - and smart of those brands to include themselves.
Another NYT Best Seller that I read a while back and has been turned into a movie is "Water for Elephants." I read it around the same time as "The Help" and if my memory serves me well, I think I liked it a bit more than "The Help." I watched the movie on the plane ride back from Manchester earlier this month and it was very accurate to the book and that made me happy. A good deal of the "The Help" was left out of the movie - like Skeeter's relationship with Stewart - but I liked how it was abbreviated - and the movie was still very long by cinema standards. But Reese Witherspoon is a wonderful actress and it's a close call for another movie that is better than the book.
The bio at the top of my blog says "here's to overturning assumptions." I'm glad I have in the case for books always being better than movies! Right now I'm reading "The Hunger Games" series and I heard they're going to be made into movies too - we'll see if it stands the test.
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