Alan Parker's
adaptation of Frank
McCourt’s Pulitzer Prize-winning, mega-best seller starts slowly, but it
eventually finds its stride. Parker (Midnight Express, Fame, The
Commitments), paints a prettier picture of utter despair that the book so
poignantly captures and, though he has made a good movie here, it is a tame
telling of the story of the McCourt family’s early immigrant years in Brooklyn
and their shameful return home to the depths of 1930’s Limerick, Ireland.
Robert Carlisle (The
Full Monty, Trainspotting) as the hopelessly irresponsible, alcoholic father
Malachy, and Emily Watson (Breaking the Waves, Hillary and Jackie) as Frank
McCourt’s mother, Angela, who survives a grueling life filled with one tragic
loss after another. Both turn in fine performances.
Brilliant screen
adaptations of brilliant books are a rare thing, so one should not hold it
against Alan Parker for not capturing fully Frank McCourt’s sad and beautiful
story.
B -
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